Effects of protein-energy restriction on the nutritional status of growing rats

This study was undertaken to assess the effects of protein-energy restriction on nutritional indicators of growing rats. For this purpose, two experiments of 15 days and 30 days were carried out. For each one, 36 Wistar strain rats were divided into 6 groups of 6 rats each. Three groups of rats were fed ad libitum, and three other were subjected to the same diets with reduced daily feed intake. In addition, each experiment had one lot of rats subjected to a protein deprived diet. After 15 days of experiment, assessment of nutritional indicators of animals fed ad libitum showed that the decrease of body weight gain was proportional to protein content in diets. Similarly, whatever the protein content, energy restriction caused a significant deterioration in weight gain. After 30 days of experiment, weight loss in rats fed at will, and that of rats subjected to restricted diets were comparable to those of the first experiment. The results of both experiments indicated that 10 % or 20 % of casein protein appeared to be effective on the growth of young rats, provided that energy intake was sufficient.