Effect of long-term feeding of albino rats on rice and on rice-tapioca diets on the blood and on the liver.

In a previous paper, Subrahmanyan, Murthy & Swaminathan (1954) reported that
replacement of 25 % of rice in a poor rice diet by tapioca flour enhanced significantly the
growth of young rats. This effect was shown to be due to the supplementary value of
the extra calcium present in the tapioca flour. Since partial replacement of rice by
tapioca flour caused a slight lowering in the protein content of the diet, the possibility
remained that the ill effects, if any, due to it, may not be observed in a period of
8 weeks. It was therefore thought desirable to conduct long-term feeding experiments
and to study the effect of prolonged feeding of such diets on the concentration of
haemoglobin in the blood, on the red-blood cell count, and on the composition and
histological appearance of the liver. A third group of rats on the control rice diet,
supplemented with the same amount of calcium (as calcium lactate) as that supplied by
tapioca in the rice—tapioca diet, was also included with a view to ascertaining the effect
of the calcium supplement on growth and on the liver and blood of rats.