The effect of fasting on blood metabolites and glucose metabolism in the chicken was studied. Parameters of glucose metabolism were estimated in vivo using a single injection of [2-3H]-glucose or [6-3H]-glucose in combination with [U-14C]-glucose. Plasma glucose, blood lactate and blood acetoacetate levels were not significantly changed in chickens fasted for 72 hours. Pyruvate levels in chickens fasted for 24 hours were higher than those observed in blood from birds fasted 0 to 72 hours. Further, the lactate to pyruvate ratio was lower in chickens fasted for 24 to 72 hours than in fed chickens. Fasting chickens for 24 or 72 hours resulted in three- to fivefold increase in blood beta-hydroxybutyrate levels and a significant increase in beta-hydroxybutyrate to acetoacetate ratio. Plasma levels of alanine and serine were increased after a 24 hour fast but were not further changed when fasting was extended to 72 hours. Plasma aspartate and glutamate levels were not significantly changed in chickens fasted for 24 hours but were markedly decreased in chickens fasted for 72 hours. Plasma levels of glycine were significantly lower in chickens fasted 24 or 72 hours than in fed birds. Glucose replacement rates estimated with [2-3H]-glucose in chickens fasted 0,24 and 72 hours were 14.3, 9.1 and 9.4 mg glucose/minute/kg body weight, respectively. Fasting up to 72 hours did not influence the total body glucose mass in the chickens. The degree of glucose-carbon recycling in 24-hour fasted chickens estimated by using [2-3H]- and [U-14C]-glucose or [6-3H]- and [U-14C]-glucose averaged 42% to 52% and 27% to 30%, respectively. These observations indicate that rate of glucose utilization in the chicken is rapid and that substantial recycling of glucose carbon occurs in fasted chickens.

The idea for a food safety study within the restaurant population was brought to light by Joan Giampaoli, M.S., R.D. The study's query began with the intent to bridge the gap between those restaurant operators who know about food safety yet do not practice it and those who not only know food safety principles, but actually put them to use. It was brought to our attention that eliciting truthful responses to actual restaurant practices would be extremely difficult. Consequently, the query became “what differences occur between restaurants with excellent environmental health code records and those having difficulty with food safety.” Due to good timing and luck, the Department of Environmental Health, Consumer Protection Division of Santa Clara County, California, was in the process of examining their own inspection procedures and welcomed us as partners. The data collected from the study was useful to them in assessing the effectiveness of their current foodservice education program, identifying additional educational methods for restaurant operators, and in revising their inspection process. A follow‐up study is planned after implementing these changes. Food safety and foodborne illness prevention are both a high priority with the Department of Environmental Health, Consumer Protection Division (DEH, CPD) in Santa Clara County, California. With the rising incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks across the United States it is imperative that restaurant foodservice operators become not only concerned with the dangers of foodborne illness, but also knowledgeable about how to prevent outbreaks. To measure attitude and knowledge regarding food safety, three hundred surveys were mailed to two separate restaurant operator populations in Santa Clara County, California. The two populations were separated by distinguishing favorable and unfavorable health code violation records dating between January 1994 and January 1995. Those restaurants with favorable health code records were hypothesized to be highly concerned and knowledgeable regarding food safety in comparison to restaurants with unfavorable health code records. Total response rate for the survey was 20.6%. Results of the survey indicated that restaurants with favorable health code records reflected a significantly higher level of concern and knowledge regarding food safety with a p<0.05. It was concluded that restaurant operators possessing the necessary knowledge and an appropriate attitude and concern towards food safety are practicing these principles on a more frequent basis as evidenced by favorable health code records.

Six semipurified canned diets ranging in composition from 0 to 62% of energy from carbohydrate and from 20% to 48% of energy from protein were fed to female beagle dogs for 8 months. Additionally, three commercial-type diets were also fed. The effects of these diets on growth, body composition and selected blood metabolite levels in the dogs were studied. The dogs readily consumed each of the nine diets fed. The level of carbohydrate, fat or protein in the diet did not influence body weight gain during the first 16 weeks nor was nitrogen balance affected by the diets. At the end of the 32-week study, dogs fed the high-carbohydrate (62% of energy) diet contained less body fat but an equal-free mass, than did dogs fed lower-carbohydrate (20--42% of energy) diets with a similar quantity of protein. Consumption of carbohydrate-free diets did not influence postprandial levels of circulating glucose or insulin in the dogs. Plasma cholesterol levels were elevated in dogs consuming in the diets high in fat but plasma triglyceride levels were not influenced by the diets fed. Consumption of high-protein (46--48% of energy) diets elevated plasma urea nitrogen levels but had minimal influence on plasma amino acid levels. The general response of these young dogs was not markedly influenced by consumption of diets ranging from carbohydrate-free to high-carbohydrate and from adequate-protein to high-protein.

The influence of dietary 1,3-butanediol (BD) on body weight gain, blood and liver metabolites, and on lipogenesis in pigs and chicks was studied. Body weight gain and energy intake of both pigs and chicks were depressed when the dietary energy derived from BD exceeded about 20 percent. Circulating beta-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate levels were markedly increased by dietary BD. Plasma triglyceride levels were increased in pigs and unchanged in chicks fed BD-containing diets. In vitro rates of fatty acid synthesis and the activities of fatty acid synthetase and malic enzyme in pig adipose tissue were not affected by the dietary BD. Neither addition of 18 percent dietary energy in the form of BD to the diet nor addition of BD to the incubation buffer affected glucose conversion to fatty acids by chick liver slices. Dietary BD did not affect long-chain acyl CoA levels in freeze-clamped chick liver but did increase the free CoA levels slightly. The hepatic lactate: pyruvate ratio was decreased when chicks were fed a BD-containing diet.

Inhibitors of Trypsin and Chymotrypsin in Winged Bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus) TubersTrypsin and -chymotrypsin inhibitors were present in winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus var. Chimbu) tubers. Compared with those of mature seeds, the levels of inhibitors were approximately the same. Tuber inhibitors could be easily inactivated by wet heat with more than 90% loss of activity after a 2-min heating of a water suspension of freeze-dried tubers in boiling water. The two types of