BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF PROTEIN QUALITY OF A SAMPLE OF HOME MADE FOOD IN COMPARE WITH A SAMPLE OF COMMERCIAL BABY FOOD AND CASEIN STANDARD IN RATS

Background and Objectives: Quality evaluation of the food proteins is important due to their biological and economical aspects. Among existing methods, True Protein Digestibility (TPD), Apparent Digestibility (AD), Net Protein Ratio (NPR), Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) and Food Efficiency Ratio (FER) are suggested for evaluation of proteins quality. The present study was conducted to biologically evaluate protein quality of a sample of home made food (combination of rice and vetch) and to compare with both a sample of commercial baby food (cerelac - based on wheat) and casein standard in Rats. Materials and Methods: This experimental study was performed on 64 male Wistar rats, aged 21days under 8 diets in 8 groups including: 2 case diets (home made food and cerelac), 1 diet standard (casein + Methionine) and 1 diet basal (protein free) in order to determine TPD, AD and 2 case diets, 1 diet standard and 1 diet basal in order to determine NPR, PER and FER. Values for TPD, AD, NPR, PER and FER were compared between the groups using ANOVA and Tukey tests. Results: TPD values for standard, cerelac and home made food were 92.8±4, 87±8 and 81.1±6.1, respectively. For standard cerelac and home made food, AD values were 89.8±4.3, 82.2±8.9 and 76.4±5.8, NPR values were 4.3±0.4, 4.3±0.9 and 4.2±0.4. PER values were 3±0.2, 2.5±0.4 and 2.7±0.6 and FER values were 4.1±0.3, 4.9±0.9 and 4.6±1.2, respectively. There was significant difference between the values of TPD and AD. Values of but NPR, PER and FER were not significantly different between groups. Conclusion: The findings showed that protein quality of home made food is nearly same as cerelac and casein. Key words: Protein quality, Commercial food, Vetch, Rice, Casein Funding: This research was funded by Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Conflict of interest: None declared. Ethical approval: The Ethics Committee of Kashan University of Medical Sciences approved the study.