Tepary bean () lectin fraction provokes reversible adverse effects on rats' digestive tract.

The Tepary bean () lectin fraction (TBLF) exhibits differential cytotoxicity on colon cancer cells and inhibition of early tumorigenesis in the colon (50 mg/kg, three times per week, for 6 weeks). TBLF showed low toxicity with the ability to activate the immune system; however, some adverse effects are the loss in body weight gain, intestinal atrophy, and pancreatic hyperplasia. After a recovery period of 2 weeks after treatment, reversion of pancreatic hyperplasia but no recovery of intestinal atrophy was observed.

Common Bean Leaves as a Source of Dietary Iron: Functional Test in an Iron-Deficient Rat Model.

Recent findings made by our group indicate that the iron content in Phaseolus vulgaris leaves is at least four times greater than in grains therefore, we evaluated the effect of supplementation with bean leaf (iron content of 275 mg/kg on a dry basis) in iron-deficient rats. Anemia was induced by feeding rats with an iron-deficient diet (IDD) for 11 days and iron-recovery diets were subsequently tested for 14 days using a normal diet, a 10 % bean leaf-supplemented IDD (BLSD) or a ferrous sulfate-supplemented IDD. Decreased levels of leukocytes (64 %), erythrocytes (30 %), lymphocytes (62 %), granulocytes (72 %), hematocrit (34 %), hemoglobin (35 %), and ferritin (34 %) were observed in the iron-deficient rats compared to the control rats.

Estimation of endogenous protein and amino acid ileal losses in weaned piglets by regression analysis using diets with graded levels of casein.

Background: Many studies have investigated endogenous loss of proteins and amino acids (AAs) at the ileal level in growing pigs. However, only a few studies have researched this subject in piglets. Knowledge regarding AA ileal digestibility in piglets would be helpful during the formulation of diets for weaning piglets, rather than just using coefficients obtained in growing pigs.