A regional basic diet from northeast Brazil as a dietary model of experimental malnutrition

The nutritional potentiality of the "Regional Basic Diet" (RBD) was assessed in albino rats. The diet, which was prepared according to data from food consumption surveys and was similar--in terms of quality and quantity--to those consumed by human populations in Northeast Brazil, was compared to a balanced diet (22% casein). The centesimal composition, aminogram, minerals content, NDpCal% and GCal%/PCal% ratio were determined. Vitamin contents were calculated from data in the literature. The RBD was shown to be imbalanced and poor in certain nutrients, mainly protein (7.8%). The growth curve of the RBD group was severely impaired; the naturally occurring sex-related differences in body weight were not detected. For fetuses and suckling pups, the weights of the liver and diaphragm paralleled body weight; brain weights were about 20% lower than those of controls, and its ratio was higher. RBD pregnant females presented, despite their higher food and energy intakes, lower weight gain as compared to the controls. During lactation food and energy intakes of RBD dams were lower than those of controls. The mortality rate among RBD pups was 24%. Our data indicate that RBD produces in the rat a type of malnutrition similar to that prevalent among children from Northeast Brazil, namely an association to nutritional dwarfism with some clinical signs of marasmus. RBD is considered to be a useful experimental model for studies on human malnutrition in countries where basic food patterns are similar to those in RBD-consuming regions.