Nutritional Evaluation of Bacterial Diets in Growing Rats

Abstract

THERE has recently been interest in the potential of bacteria (single cell protein) as a food for populations on a diet deficient in protein^1,2 and for astronauts on long space flights. There seems to be no literature on the growth of animals fed for extended periods on bacteria as the only nitrogen source or as a large proportion of the diet. This communication reports the results obtained when weanling rats were fed on diets containing acetone-killed Escherichia coli B or Hydrogenomonas eutropha as a minimal nitrogen source, and of feeding diets which utilize these bacteria as the chief source of calories. The findings are useful in establishing the extent to which bacterial protein can replace conventional protein and the degree to which a diet containing large amounts of whole bacteria is compatible with good nutrition and health. H. eutropha is of particular interest because it is under consideration as a possible source of regenerated food for use on long space flights³.