Effect of Dietary Egg Albumin on the Phytase Activity of Rats Fed on Rice Diet

Abstract

The amount of phosphorus in rice, though large in comprison with that of calcium, is not enough for the normal growth of rats and calcification of their bone. Moreover, the greater part of phosphorus in rice is phytin form of low digestibility. The authors have investigated the effect of addition of egg albumin and vitamin D to the rice diet on the availability of phosphorus in rice by rats.
The experiments provide evidence that the addition of egg albumin to the rice diet greatly enhanced the phosphorus utilization as resulted from that of vitamin D. The phytase of small intestine has been activated by the supple-ment of egg albumin as well as vitamin D to the diet. The effect of egg albumin and that of vitamin D are cumulative. In contrast to the effect of egg albumin the addition of phosphate decreased the phytase activity.