Abstract
In order to evaluate the species-dependent difference in the protective effect of dietary fiber against amaranth (Food Red No. 2) toxicity, rats and chicks were fed with a large amount (5 to 6% of the diet) of amaranth with or without the addition of 5% dietary fiber in diets containing different carbohydrates. The dietary fiber (GDF) was prepared from "gobo, " the roots of edible burdock (Arctium lappa L.). Feeding amaranth together with the raw corn starch, sucrose, maltose or glucose diet to rats caused severe diarrhea, enlargement of the cecum, and decreased body weight gain and feed efficiency. However, rats concurrently fed with 5% amaranth and 5% GDF were almost free from these adverse effects of amaranth irrespective of the dietary carbohydrates. In contrast with rats, there was little or no growth retardation in chicks when fed with 6% amaranth in the mono- and disaccharide-based diets. Only when 6% amaranth was added to the corn starch diet did the chicks show reduced body weight gain to a statistically significant extent. However, the depression of growth rate by amaranth was not ameliorated in the chicks even when the amaranth-containing diet was supplemented with 5% GDF. From these results, it is suggested that chicks are less susceptible to amaranth toxicity than rats, and that they are different from rats in the mechanism by which dietary fiber exerts its beneficial effect on amaranth toxicity.
