American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 20, 338-344, Copyright © 1967 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Serum Amino Acid Response to Isocaloric Test Meals

¹ From the Agricultural Experiment Station, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia

Six isocaloric test meals, providing protein at two levels and different proportions of fat and carbohydrate, were administered to 10 healthy young men. The amino acids in venous blood serum were determined at fasting and at intervals up to 7 hr following the ingestion of the test meals.

Serum concentrations of all amino acids increased at 1 hr following each test meal. No significant effects of the fat or carbohydrate intake on the serum amino acid changes were observed. Average postprandial changes in all amino acids were greater following the high protein meals than after the moderate protein meals. However, the changes did not parallel the amino acid composition of the meals ingested. When the average changes were expressed as a percentage of the body requirements, the resulting rank order was similar to the limiting order obtained from chemical scoring of the protein ingested.