Author
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WILDMAN, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE |
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Klevay, Leslie |
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Submitted to: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 4/17/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Mice that eat nothing but meat become anemic and die with hypercholesterolemia, probably from relative deficiency of copper. Liver (part to 3 of meat)is an antidote (Jacob, et al. Nutr Rep Int 16:73-79, 1977); mice fed only meat had 62% less copper and 24% more zinc in liver, along with a 66% decrease in hematocrit. Femurs from these mice had been trimmed free of muscle, were stored at room temperature in individual vial and were compression-challenged by an Instron (model 5655) to determine the peak breaking strength. Mean (SD) femur peak breaking strength for 25 mice fed liver and 17 fed meat only were 11.44 (4.6) and 8.84 (2.9) N/mg X 100, respectively (p <0.05). This suggests that relatively less force is necessary to fracture bones of mice with meat anemia. Chemical analysis of bone is pending. That poor copper nutriture has an adverse effect on bones has been known since the dog experiment of Baxter (Bull Johns Hopkins Hosp 93:25-39, 1953). The present results, which complement more recent findin in pigs (Pond, et al. Nutr Res 10:871-885, 1990) and rats (Medeiros et al. J Trace Elem Exp Med 10:197-203, 1997), probably are secondary to poor collagen cross-linking. Abnormal bone now has been found in at least four, non-ruminent mammals when copper nutriture is impaired. Occasional consumption of liver may benefit people at high risk of osteoporosis because some diets in the U.S. are quite low in copper (Klevay and Medeiros, J Nutr 126:2419S-2426S, 1969). |
