DIETARY-REGULATION OF INTESTINAL GLUCOHYDROLASES IN ADULT-RATS - COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF SOLID AND LIQUID DIETS CONTAINING GLUCOSE POLYMERS, STARCH, OR SUCROSE

For 1 wk, 3-mo-old male rats were fed a low-starch (5 cal%), high-fat (73 cal%, corn oil) diet followed by a high-glucose-polymer (70 cal%), low-fat (7 cal%, corn oil) or a middle-glucose-polymer (40 cal%), middle-fat (37 cal%, corn oil) diet. Other animals were fed similar diets but with starch or sucrose instead of the glucose polymers. Rats were sacrificed 2 or 7 days later. Food intake, body weight changes and protein content per intestinal segment were similar in all groups. Increased carbohydrate intake evoked an increase of sucrase, maltase, glucoamylase, and lactase activity in both the jejunum and ileium. Effect of glucose polymers on glucohydrolase was similar in animals fed commercial liquid-soy-based infant containing sucrose, glucose polymers, or both. Results support using glucose polymers as replacements for sucrose or starch when digestion impairment of those sugars is suppressed or when a formula of lower osmolality is indicated.