American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 26, 429-434, Copyright © 1973 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc.

Modifications of serum-free amino acid patterns of Babinga adult pygmies after short-term feeding of a balanced diet

¹ From the Istituto Nazionale della Nutrizione, Laboratorio di Biochimica, Cittá Universitaria, Rome, Italy

Six adult male pygmies, with a serum amino acid pattern identical to that found in other pygmies previously investigated and who ingested a self-selected diet, were fed for 7 days a balanced diet that contained an average of 1.2 g protein/kg per day. The purpose of the study was to determine if their serum amino acid pattern could be normalized by dietary means.

After 3 days of dietary treatment, we observed a significant decrease of phenylalanine, serine, alanine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, and, to a lesser degree, of glycine. Successive treatment for another 5 days did not lead to any further significant variations.

The pattern reached values considered normal, except for glycine which, although notably reduced, remained significantly higher. The results show that the peculiar serum amino acid pattern consistently found in all the pygmies examined is an expression of their eating habits. Furthermore, they show that differences due to diet are reflected in the aminogram after a few days of consuming a constant diet.