An amino acid diet supporting superior growth in mice

A diet containing, as a source of nitrogen, a mixture of purified L-amino acids simulating the amino acid composition of a successful diet containing vegetable and milk proteins was fed to mice in a 3% agar gel. This diet, at 17% amino acids, supported better growth of young male animals during a 21-day period than did the same assortment of amino acids at 23% of the diet, a commercial mouse food or the same basic diet containing a different assortment of amino acids from a published diet developed for rats. Cystine was removed from the diet, which contained 0.317% methionine and no choline, and this diet, fed for 52 days, continued to support growth and produced no microscopic evidence of fatty liver.