DIETARY THIAMIN SUPPLY DURING GESTATION EFFECTS THIAMIN STATUS OF LACTATING RATS AND THEIR SUCKLING OFFSPRING

This investigation was designed to examine the effect of dietary thiam in supply during gestation on body thiamin status of lactating rats an d their suckling offspring, and thiamin in milk from 1 to 13 days post partum. Therefore, a study over two generations was conducted feeding 2, 6.7 and 20 mg/kg thiamin during gestation and 8 mg/kg thiamin durin g lactation. Rat darns receiving inadequate thiamin during gestation a nd their offspring were thiamin-deficient on the basis of reduced acti vity of transketolase in blood and erythrocytes, which did not reach c ompletely the control level even two weeks postpartum. The thiamin int ake during gestation influenced significantly the thiamin levels in ti ssues of the dams and their offspring. However the observed dose-depen dence remained only for the first days of lactation. The thiamin conce ntration in milk two days postpartum also reflected the nutritional th iamin status front the pregnant rats, in which the thiamin concentrati on raised continuously with the duration of the lactation cycle. The d ata indicate that an adequate thiamin supply during lactation can nor completely compensate for an inadequate thiamin supply during gestatio n, and that necessitates a constant thiamin intake.