Effect of inulin and oligofructose enrichment of the diet on rats suffering thiamine deficiency.

Thiamine deficiency resulted in inhibition of two main pathways supplying energy to the tissues: glycolysis and ß-oxidation. Glycolysis was found to be inhibited to 40% of initial value calculated on the basis of RBC trans-membrane transport of glucose. Prolongation of experiment cause lowering of uptake of this sugar. In rats, energy production from fatty acids (FA) seems to be less sensitive to thiamine deficiency than glycolysis. After 30 days of feeding, utilization of FA in rats was depressed to the 61% of initial value. Thiamine deficiency suppressed insulin secretion, and the changes were statistically significant. Feeding of rats with thiamine restricted diet for 1 month caused the reduction of serum insulin by 14%. In the same animals, trans-membrane glucose transport was reduced over two-times, what might suggest a decreased efficiency of insulin action in such conditions. The kind and concentration of non-digestible fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) did not affect significantly serum insulin concentration in animals fed thiamine restricted diet. Substitution of a part of wheat starch with FOS has only insignificant compensatory effect on the uptake of glucose. A partial amelioration of the ß-oxidation inhibition caused by feeding rats with thiamine deficient diet was observed in animals supplemented with FOS. However, this effect was statistically significant only in rats receiving diet containing 10% of inulin. The effect of supplemented FOS and their concentration on trans-membrane glucose transport in RBC was statistically significant, when pulled supplementation groups were used for statistical evaluation.

[Evaluation of food consumption and nutritional status of children at preschool and school age based on the literature in 1980-1995]. / Analiza stanu zywienia dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym i szkolnym w oparciu o istniejace pismiennictwo z lat 1980-1995.

The study includes a survey of literature reports from the last 15 years on the consumption of food and nutritional status of preschool and school children. The nutritional status of preschool and school children suggested many shortcomings independent of social class and nutrition type (individual, mass nutrition). Generally, the nutrition of town children was better than that of rural children, and signs of deficiency of certain vitamins and mineral components were found in a lowe per cent of the former children. The food rations of the studied children contained too low consumption of milk and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, with high intake of fats, meat and its products, sugar and sweets. The daily food rations contained low amounts of calcium, vitamins A, B and C, with excess of phosphorus and fats. The nutrition of school children depended on year season, social class and education of parents. The most frequent faults included inappropriate timetable of meals, their poor quality, inadequate number and monotony. No such data could be obtained with respect to preschool children. The nutritional status of preschool and school children gives rise to objections, especially in the case of rural areas. There is a need to evolve and introduce a standardized study method for the assessment of nutrition and nutritional status of preschool and school children and continuous monitoring in this respect.

[Comparison of some enzymatic methods for dietary fiber determination in foods]. / Porównanie wybranych enzymatycznych metod oznaczania blonnika pokarmowego w zywnosci.

Comparison of three different enzymatic techniques for dietary fibre determination (Hellendoorn, Asp, AOAC)) in five kinds of food (white bread, rye rolls, white cabbage, carrot and red beet) was the main purpose of this study. It was found that our results obtained by Hellendoorn's method are overestimated and therefore are somewhat doubtful. For this reason the AOAC method can be recommended as more accurate.

[Determination of the dietary fiber content of some foods using a biological method]. / Oznaczanie blonnika pokarmowego w wybranych produktach spozywczych metoda biologiczna.

The evaluation of a biological method for dietary fibre determination in food was the main purpose of this study. Three-week old Wistar rats were used in this experiments. The rats were administered during two weeks a diet containing 1% of crude fibre from bread, grits, green beans, white cabbage and carrot. It was found that the biological method gave results similar to those obtained by the enzymatic one.