PROTEIN and AMINO ACID NUTRITION This page intentionally left blank PROTEIN and AMINO ACID NUTRITION Edited by Anthony A. Albanese St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital Greenwich, Connecticut Burke Foundation, White Plains, New York Osborn Home, Rye, New York 1959 A C A D E M IC PRESS · New York and London Copyright ©, 1959, by Academic Press Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED NO PART OF THIS BOOK MAY BE REPRODUCED IN ANY FORM, BY PHOTOSTAT, MICROFILM, OR ANY OTHER MEANS, WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE PUBLISHERS. ACADEMIC PRESS INC. Ill FIFTH AVENUE NEW YORK 3, N. Y. United Kingdom Edition Published by ACADEMIC PRESS INC. (LONDON) LTD. 50 PALL MALL, LONDON S. W. 1 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 59-13824 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Contributors ANTHONY A. ALBANESE, Nutritional Research Laboratory, St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut JAMES B. ALLISON, Bureau of Biological Research, and the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Rutgers, The State University, New BrunsuAck, New Jersey H. J. ALMQUIST, The Grange Company, Modesto, California CHARLES H. BARROWS, JR., Gerontology Branch, National Heart Institute, National Institutes of Health, P.H.S., D.H.E. b- W., Bethesda, Maryland CLARENCE P. BERG, Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa BACON F. CHOW, The Baltimore City Hospitals and Department of Bio- chemistry, School of Hygiene and Public Health, The Johns Hop- kins University, Baltimore, Maryland DOUGLAS V. FROST, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Illinois REGINALD A. HIGGONS, Nutritional Research Laboratory, St. Luke's Con- valescent Hospital, Greenwich, Connecticut RUTH M. LEVERTON, Institute of Home Economics, United States De- partment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. H. H. MITCHELL, Division of Animal Nutrition, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois BERNARD L. OSER, Food and Drug Research Laboratories, Inc., Maspeth, New York MARY S. PARSHLEY, Department of Pathology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York HANS R. ROSENBERG, Nutrition Section, E. I. Du Pont de Nemours i? Co., Stine Laboratory, Newark, Delaware HENRY S. SIMMS, Department of Pathology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York PEARL SWANSON, Department of Food and Nutrition, Iowa State Col- lege, Ames, Iowa R. J. WILLIAMS, The Clayton Foundation Biochemical Institute and the University of Texas, Austin, Texas This page intentionally left blank Preface During the past few years, there have been many requests that the monograph "Protein and Amino Acid Requirements of Mammals"* be brought up to date and expanded in scope. Moreover, fellow investi- gators have indicated that there is need for a collection in one volume of rather detailed presentations describing the current state of knowledge concerning this aspect of nutrition. This volume aims to fill that need. The unprecedented research activity in this field and in related areas during the past decade has resulted in a gradually increasing limitation of space in the periodical literature which can be allotted to review, reflections, and speculations on the broad significance of experi- mental findings. These publication restrictions tend to retard the con- tinuity of scientific thought and progress. One solution to the problem appears to be the use of media which can provide qualified investigators ample space and freedom to express themselves fully in the area of their major cognizance. Although all segments of human communication are currently beset by difficulties of orderly and accurate transmission of facts, the field of nutrition falls prey to some unique hazards. The most serious of these results from the vast number of reports dealing with nutritional matters which appear almost daily in the lay literature. No one will deny the value of public education in this most vital of subjects. Competition for space and readers, however, tends to lead to the dramatization of certain scientific reports at the expense of accuracy. Although such accounts of scientific observations in the public press can be condoned somewhat by the expediency of the circumstances, the increasing appearance of these articles in the professional literature is to be deplored and con- stitutes a disservice to the science of nutrition, particularly when the editorial responsibility is cloaked with authoritarian anonymity. The Editor wishes to acknowledge with deep appreciation and thanks the generous collaboration of the individual contributors which has made this volume possible. He feels particularly indebted to his colleague and mentor for more than a decade, Dr. Reginald A. Higgons, for his assistance in many of the editorial and reviewing tasks connected with this publication. Acknowledgment is also due Mrs. Muriel E. Rosenquest and Miss Louise A. Orto, for their valuable help and industry in proof- * Edited by Anthony A. Albanese, Academic Press, Inc., 1950. vii Vlll PREFACE reading and indexing, and Miss Gloria T. Greco for her assistance in the library research portion of this eflfort. Last, but not least, the en- couraging and gracious guidance of the Editorial and Production StaflEs of the Academic Press is recognized with many thanks. ANTHONY A. ALBANESE Greenwich, Connecticut June, 1959 Contents CONTRIBUTORS v PREFACE vii 1. Introduction and Perspectives ANTHONY A. ALBANESE 1 I. Vitamins and Amino Acid Metabolism 2 II. Effect of Some Therapeutic Agents on Protein and Amino Acid Nutrition 5 References 8 2. Some Species and Age DiflEerences in Amino Acid Requirements H. H. MITCHELL 11 I. Introduction 11 II. An Experimental Study 13 III. Keratin Synthesis in Protein Nutrition 19 IV. Composition of Tissue Proteins and Amino Acid Requirements for Growth 23 V. Amino Acid Requirements for Nitrogen Equilibrium in the Adult 28 VI. A Theory of Protein Metabolism 31 VII. A Schematic Representation of Protein Metabolism 36 VIII. Summary 39 References 40 3. Individuality of Amino Acid Needs ROGER J. WILLIAMS 45 I. Introduction 45 II. Genetic Basis for Individuality in Needs 45 III. Anatomical and Compositional Basis for Individual Needs 47 IV. Distinctive Amino Acid Patterns 48 V. Quantitative Data With Respect to Individuality in Needs 51 VI. Do Individual Needs Differ Qualitatively? 54 References 55 4. Utilization of D-Amino Acids CLARENCE P. BERG 57 I. Introduction 57 II. Availability of the D-Amino Acids for Maintenance and Growth 58 III. Inversion of the D-Amino Acids 65 IV. Oxidative Deamination as an Inversion Step 67 V. Dietary Replacement of Essential Amino Acids by α-Keto Acids 68 VI. Growth Response on Ample Mixtures of the DL-Amino Acids .... 70 VII. Toxicity of the D-Amino Acids 71 VIII. Growth Response on Marginal or Suboptimal Levels of DL- and D-Amino Acids 72 IX. Reanimation of α-Keto Acids 78 X. Factors Affecting the Degree of Availability of the D-Amino Acids 78 References 92 ix