Author
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Reeves, Phillip |
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Submitted to: Journal of Nutrition
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 5/28/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Animals such as rats, mice and hamsters are often used in nutrition, cancer and toxicology studies as models for changes that one might see in humans. To perform these studies, the animals must have a nutritious diet. For the past 17 years, a rodent diet called AIN-76A has been used. Because of new knowledge gathered over the years, it was found that this diet was not performing as well as it should. Members of the nutrition community thought it was time to reformulate the diet to make it have a better combination and supply of needed nutrients. The new diet is called AIN-93G. The old diet caused calcium deposits in the kidneys of female but not male rats. Changing the amount of phosphorus in the new diet prevented this problem. The fat source was changed from corn oil to soybean oil to provide the correct balance and amount of the essential fatty acids, linoleic and linolenic. Also the amount of vitamin E, vitamin K and vitamin B12 were increased and the amount of manganese was decreased. The carbohydrate source was changed from sugar to starch. Because of a better balance of essential nutrients, the AIN-93 diets may prove to be a better choice than AIN-76A for long-term as well as short- term studies with laboratory rodents. Technical Abstract: The AIN-93 rodent diets were formulated to substitute for the previous version called AIN-76A, and to improve the performance of animals that consume them. They are called AIN-93G, formulated for growth, and AIN- 93M, for maintenance. Major changes included substituting corn starch for sucrose, and soybean oil for corn oil and increasing the amount to supply both essential fatty acids, linoleic and linolenic. L-cystine was substituted for DL-methionine to supplement the casein component. The mineral mix was reformulated to lower the amount of phosphorus, manganese and chromium, to increase the amount of selenium, and to add molybdenum silicon, fluoride, nickel, boron, lithium and vanadium. The amounts of vitamin E, K-1 and B-12 were increased over those in the AIN-76A vitamin mix. AIN-93G contains 200 g of casein and 70 g of soybean oil/kg diet. The maintenance diet, AIN-93M, contains 140 g of casein and 40 g of soybean oil/kg diet. The '93 diets have a better balance of essential nutrients than the '76 diet and are better choices for studies with laboratory rodents. |