EFFECTS OF DIETS WITH DIFFERENT CONTENT IN PROTEIN AND FIBER ON EMBRYOTOXICITY INDUCED BY EXPERIMENTAL DIABETES IN RATS

Three groups of streptozotocin-diabetic rats were maintained during pr egnancy on three hyperproteic diets with different protein contents. T hese differences were compensated by an equal quantity of fiber (group 1: protein 55.0%, fiber 4.5%; group 2: 45.0%, 14.0%; group 3: 35.0%, 24.0%). Three groups of nondiabetic pregnant rats were fed with the sa me diets and served as control. The differences of the daily protein i ntake among the diabetic groups were less pronounced than those expect ed on the basis of the diet composition, and the embryopathic effects (reduced fetal weight, increase in malformation and resorption rate) w ere not statistically different among the three groups of diabetic ani mals. The frequency of congenital malformations was higher than that o bserved in a previous experiment in diabetic rats maintained on a stan dard diet, but much lower than that observed in animals fed on a purif ied, fiber-poor, normoproteic diet. When the caloric intake of the dia betic rats in the different groups was determined it was found to be s imilar for all of them and also similar to the caloric intake of the r ats given a standard nonteratogenic diet (in previous experiments), wh ile the rats maintained on a normoproteic, teratogenic diet increased their caloric intake. These results seem to indicate that the diet com position greatly influences the intake of food and calories of pregnan t diabetic rats and this may play a role in modulating the embryopathi c effect of diabetes.