American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 20, 927-934, Copyright © 1967 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Nitrogen Retention in Adult Man: A Possible Factor in Protein Requirements

¹ From Department of Nutrition, Rutgers—The State University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Experiments were undertaken to investigate the effects of high dietary-N intakes from good quality protein on N retention and on body composition. Diets supplying from 9 to 34 g N/day were given to 20- to 22-year-old male college students. On dietary-N intakes in excess of 15 g/day, considerable quantities of N were retained over periods of several weeks. The total quantity of N retained could not be accounted for in terms of observed body-weight changes, or body-composition measurements based on whole-body ⁴⁰K concentrations. Thus, a major portion of the stored N appears to be retained as nonprotein N. The amount of N retained on the high-protein intakes was particularly intriguing in view of the relatively high-protein intake of these subjects prior to their participation in the present diet studies. The full significance of such N stores awaits further investigation.

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