The long term effects of varying dietary protein, lipid and vitamin E on intestinal and serum amylase

Dietary corn starch was maintained at a constant 15% (gm/100gm diet) while varying protein (casein) or lipid (corn oil) at the expense of glucose for up to 24 weeks in BALB/c mice. These studies confirm the previous reports that animals must have adequate dietary protein to produce pancreatic amylase-2 and that amylase secretion correlates with the amount of complex carbohydrate in the diet. However, our study with long term exposure to diets of 4, 20 or 50% protein found some normalizing of amylase secretion into the intestines which approached control levels after 3 months. In contrast, serum amylase was only depressed after the third month in samples from mice fed both the high or low protein diets. Intestinal amylase at first did not increase from mice fed both the high fat (20%) and fat-free diets as fast as controls but then became higher than controls after 4 months. However, there was no significant difference in serum levels. Alpha tocopherol at 200,000 IU/100 g of diet had no effect on intestinal amylase but decreased the serum amylase level.