American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 13, 291-296, Copyright © 1963 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Nutritional Quality of Survival Biscuits and Crackers

¹ From the Department of Nutritional Research, Mead Johnson Research Center, Evansville, Indiana

Studies have been conducted in rats to evaluate the nutritional quality of the "Survival Biscuits and Crackers" being stockpiled by the Office of Civil Defense. Male weanling rats lost about 20 per cent and young adult rats about 12 per cent of their initial body weight when fed these survival rations for four weeks as the sole diet or when supplied with additional vitamins and minerals.

Control diets supplying the same level of protein (8 per cent of the calories) as in the survival rations supported satisfactory weight gains in both weanling and young adult rats.

The lysine content of the Survival Biscuits and Crackers was very low, presumably due to losses in baking, and supplied only 1 gm. per 100 gm. protein, or a third of that calculated for the original ingredients. Adding lysine to the rations permitted moderate weight gains and gave protein efficiencies approximating those to be expected for the original ingredients. Thus, the unexpectedly poor quality of the survival rations is primarily due to their low lysine content.