Fish-Induced Anemia in Rats

Abstract

The described feeding experiment on rats comprised three groups, each consisting of 9 females. The control group was fed a commercial pellet diet fortified with brewer’s yeast and whole milk. Groups II and III were fed pasty fish diets which contained 90.5 % of undehydrated raw or boiled coalfish. The feeding experiment started when the rats were 34 days old. The rats were mated three times during the experiment. Undiversified feeding with a raw coalfish diet to rat females during gestation and lactation, and to their litters during weaning and after-weaning, resulted in evident anemic symptoms in the young animals. If boiled fish substituted the raw fish, the anemic symptoms were reduced, but not eliminated. Repeated gestation periods of mother animals, fed fish diets, did not result in increased anemic symptoms in their litters. Nor did the repeated gestation periods result in anemic mother animals. The anemic young rats, when continously fed the same fish diets, gradually improved their health state. The resulting adult animals were non-anemic and appeared normal as to growth and development.