Nutritional effect of ten different kinds of freeze-drying vegetables mixture-“Sai Jin” in growing rats

Objective: To observe influence of ten different kinds of freeze-drying vegetables mixture-”Sai Jin” on nutritional status in growing rats. Methods: Eighteen weanling rats were divided into control and ”Sai Jin” groups,fed in metabolic cages individually with semi-synthetic diets. Because of 6% supplement of ”Sai Jin” in diet of experiment group,the constitutes in diet of control group had to be adjusted,so that energy,protein,fiber and other nutrients in two groups may well be matched. Pair fed method was used to keep same intake in two groups. At the 40^th day,all the feces were collected to measure flora in feces cultivation such as Lactobacillus,Escherichia coli （E）,Bifidobacterium （B） and calculate ratio of B to E. At the 45^th day rats were killed by decapitation under ether anaesthesia. Blood were taken for analysis. Results: Food conversion rate, total protein,albumin,and globulin in plasma were nearly similar between two groups. There was no much difference in hematological parameters and some biological indexes between two groups statistically. However,serum cholesterol in rats of ”Sai Jin” group was significantly lower than that of control,meanwhile,the ratio of B to E in feces cultivation was obviously higher compared with control. Composition and contents of serum amino acids in two groups were similar except for lower level of lysine,ornithine and tryptophan in ”Sai Jin” group. Conclusions: Supplement of 6% ”Sai Jin” in diet may decrease blood cholesterol in rats and improve intestinal flora. It was suggested that in order to get a balanced nutrition,intake of sufficient high quality protein from both animal and bean is of importance when increase vegetables intake in diet because lack of some of essential amino acids is a common characteristic of vegetables.