title: Effects od dietary protein, fat and energy on blood hemoglobin and hematocrit in the rat.
abstract: Twenty-eight-day old male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing varying levels of protein, fat and energy for 8 weeks and were killed. Blood hemoglobin and hematocrit measured at the time of killing increased progressively with increases in the level of dietary protein up to 50% protein. The Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC; hemoglobin concentration in g/100 ml red blood corpuscles) reached a plateau in rats fed diets containing 15% protein or more. Rats consuming low (5%) and high (21.1%) fat diets had lower hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit than rats fed the diets with intermediate fat content (11.9%); the level of dietary fat had no effect on the MCHC. Rats fed restricted amounts of diet had similar hemoglobin concentration to rats fed the same diet ad libitum; however the restricted rats had a lower hematocrit and hence a relative elevation of the MCHC.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D002149:Energy Intake; D006400:Hematocrit; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D007768:Lactalbumin; D008297:Male; D011488:Protein Deficiency / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins; D006454:Hemoglobins; D007768:Lactalbumin