e., kidney and/or liver damage). Large-scale human studies have demonstrated that higher protein intakes seemingly exert no adverse effects on markers of renal or

liver function [9, 10]. There are, however, equivocal safety concerns brought about through the internet and media regarding the prolonged effects of consuming copious amounts of dietary protein whether it is through high protein foods or protein supplements [11]. Likewise, there is the Selleckchem Saracatinib imminent possibility that whey protein supplement users disregard and supersede the recommended dosages and combine whey with other dietary supplement ingredients. Therefore, multiple dosages of protein supplements should be thoroughly investigated for safety of consumption. Animal models offer a variety of advantages compared to humans

ABT-263 in vitro AZD2014 to study how mammals physiologically cope with nutritional interventions. Specifically, animals’ diets can be tightly regulated, multiple tissues can be dissected and analyzed, and supplement adherence can be assured. Therefore, the purpose of the current study was two-fold: aim 1) to use a rat model to compare the post-prandial insulin and leucine responses between a novel WPH-based supplement versus a WPI powder in rats that were in the post-absorptive state, and aim 2) to perform a thorough toxicological analysis on rats that were fed low, medium, and high doses of the novel WPH-based supplement over a 30-day period in order to examine the safety of chronically consuming this protein source. We hypothesized that the tested WPH-based supplement would exhibit a superior insulin response when compared to the insulin response of WPI. Likewise, we hypothesized that leucine and insulin responses to the WPH-based protein would be superior to WPI based upon previous literature suggesting that the hydrolysis process potentially increases the digestibility of WPH [7]. Finally, we hypothesized that the supplement would not elicit adverse health effects on the measured health parameters on rats following a 30-day supplementation period. Materials

and Methods Animals and experimental protocols Male Wistar rats were obtained from Charles River Laboratory weighing 175–200 g. Rats were Benzatropine between 45–48 days of age when received. They were allowed 7 days to acclimatize to new housing and were maintained on a 12/12-h light/dark cycle, with food (Purinalab 5008 standard chow: 27% protein, 17% fat, 56% carbohydrates) provided ad libitum until the experimental testing days described below. Rats were received in 2 cohorts; the first (n = 36) was used to examine circulating post-gavage insulin and leucine responses between one human equivalent dose (low dose) of WPI and the tested (low dose) WPH-based supplement and the second (n = 20) was used to study how 30 days of feeding a low dose (1.1 g/d, or 1 human equivalent dose), medium dose (3.4 g/d, 3 human eq. doses), high dose (6.