The effect of dietary protein on carcinogenesis of aflatoxin

Madhavan, T. V.; Gopalan, C.

Three experiments were conducted in which different daily oral doses of aflatoxin were administered to weanling rats for varying periods. In each experiment, the animals were divided into 2 groups, 1 (HP) receiving 20% casein and the other (LP) a 5% casein in the diet, the former being pair fed to the latter. In all, 30 rats on the HP diet and 12 on the LP diet survived for more than a year. Of the former, 15 (50%) developed hepatomas or tumors in other organs while the other 15 showed only precancerous lesions in the liver. In contrast, none of the 12 rats on the low-protein diet showed tumors or precancerous lesions of the liver while only 1 developed a kidney tumor. Low levels of dietary protein have an inhibitory effect on aflatoxin carcinogenesis in the rat.