[Dialdehyde starches and their hygienic evaluation]

The paper carries some information on modified starches. Tests were staged on albino rats (males and females) to investigate samples of maize dialdehyde starches with the degree of oxidation of 0 (control), 5, 10 and 25 per cent. For 20--25 days the animals were fed on a synthetic diet in which the whole of the starch was replaced with the dialdehyde starch. As demonstrated, the 25% oxidation starch produced an adverse effect on the rats, viz. the animals lagged in the weight gain, suffered from diarrhea and the content of the intestinal enzymes was below that in controls. Feeding of the rats on starch with a lower degree of oxidation was attended by retardation in weight but did not produce any noticeable functional intestinal disorders.