CHICKEN EXTRACT STIMULATES HEMOGLOBIN RESTORATION IN IRON-DEFICIENT RATS

Chicken essence is widely used as a traditional remedy for several ail ments including anaemia. To test this claim for objective evidence, a series of experiments was carried out in anaemic rats by supplementing iron deficient diets with either liquid or lyophilised essence, which contains mainly protein and peptides (83 mg/ ml) and free amino acids (3.1 mg/ml), very little iron (1 mu g/ml), and no fat. Haemoglobin re turned to normal significantly more rapidly in rats supplemented with ad libitum liquid BEC over a period of up to 27 days compared with con trols fed only water in addition to the ad libitum iron deficient diet . Haemoglobin was also significantly increased after 1 week in animals fed ad libitum diets supplemented with lyophilised chicken essence th an with controls fed the unsupplemented diet. The effect was greater w ith supplementation at the level of 0.2% than at 1% lyophilised essenc e. The results indicate that the effects were mediated by increased ap petite and by enhanced availability of food iron. These studies provid e objective evidence for the traditional belief that chicken essence r emedies anaemia.