The digestibility of English and Canadian wheats with special reference to the digestibility of wheat protein by man

1. Two men and four women carried out digestibility experiments on English and Canadian wheats at 90 and 80% extractions. The flour was the only source of protein and contributed 77−93% of the total dietary calories.2. At 90% extraction the digestibility of the diets in terms of calories was unaffected by the source of the flour and amounted to 93·3%. At 80% extraction the digestibility of the diet containing English wheat amounted to 95·6% and of those containing Manitoba wheat to 96·7%. The difference is attributed to mild intestinal upsets on the English flour.3. The apparent digestibility of the protein depended upon the amount of N in the wheat and fell as the extraction rose. A quantitative analysis of the results indicates that the protein in wheat flour of 90 and 80% extraction is completely digested and absorbed, and that the N found in the faeces is entirely derived from the secretions of the gut.The Medical Research Council paid for the expenses of this investigation. We are very much indebted to Drs T. Moran, C. R. Jones and other members of the Cereals Research Station, St Albans, without whose help this study would hardly have been possible. We have also very much appreciated the help we have received from the subjects, Miss M. Costain, Miss C. M. Walsham, Miss E. Wilkinson and Mr R. Tayler, and also from Flt.-Sergeant Childs, who kindly made the bomb calorimeter determinations.