Rat models in protein quality evaluation

The ideal methodology for establishing protein quality has not yet been elaborated. On the other hand, the proposed introduction on the market of novel protein sources urges the industry to ask for an in vitro test, characterized for being inexpensive fast, reliable, and acceptable at an official level. Obviously, the in vitro test must be confirmed by an appropriate in vivo test. In this connection the problems relative to the species on which to experiment if it should or should not be the one to whom the protein food is directed—and the characteristics of the in vivo test are discyssed. Although the rational appears to be to assay on man protein directed to him, the cumbersomeness of the procedure, technical difficulties, uncertainties in the interpretation of the results as wel as ethical considerations for what children are concerned, don’t favor experimentation on man. An extensive experimental study, aimed at testing various conventional and novel proteins, confirmed that the multiple doses test, as proposed by Samonds and Hegsted (RPV), has the highest discriminating capacity and is scientificically the most reliable. A research project to verify the correlation between the two methods for evaluating biological quality, namely PRV and the method of the in vitro ultrafiltered digest (EUD), is under investigation.