Jan. 26,1924 
The Nutritive Properties of Wild Rice 
221 
As the composition of the inorganic matter of milk is adequate to meet 
the needs of the growing animal, it is readily seen that both varieties of 
rice have very inadequate amounts of the essential ash constituents. 
This point will be discussed further in connection with the biological 
analysis of the rice. 
BIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF WILD RICE 
Since it is now recognized that a chemical analysis of a foodstuff is very 
inadequate for judging its food value, the investigation of the wild rice 
also included a biological analysis. From this analysis it is possible to 
compare the value of this cereal with that of many of the cereals in 
common use, and thus evaluate it as a food product. 
The method of procedure was that commonly used when it is desired 
to determine the deficiencies of a single foodstuff. Rice was fed, with no 
additions; and when it became evident that growth could not be induced 
on such a food, additions of known purified food constituents were made 
singly and in groups until a food was produced which gave satisfactory 
growth. The results of this procedure make it clear that the dietary 
properties of wild rice are much like those of our common cereals, but 
somewhat better than those of polished rice. 
The wild rice used in the feeding experiments was obtained in the 
local market, ground to a fine meal, and fed, both unmixed and with 
certain additions, to young rats weighing from 70 to 80 gm. The rats 
were kept on sawdust bedding in clean, well-ventilated cages. The 
efficiency of these different rice rations in promoting growth in the rat 
is set forth in figures 1 and 2. 
The ration of the rats of Lot 1 (fig. 1) consisted of wild rice with no 
additions. This proved to be an entirely inadequate food, for the greater 
number of animals in this lot constantly lost weight, and by the end of 
the third week were in an extremely emaciated condition. 
The first addition that it seemed advisable to make was that of in¬ 
organic constituents, since the chemical analysis of the rice had shown it 
to be very deficient in the mineral elements essential for growth. As 
the ash analysis of the wild rice (Table II) did not differ greatly from 
that of polished rice, the same salt mixture that McCollum and Davis 3 
used with polished rice was added to the cereal. This salt mixture con¬ 
sisted of sodium chlorid 5 parts, dipotassium phosphate 12.1 parts, 
monocalcium phosphate 2.56 parts, calcium lactate 29.44 parts, and 
ferric citrate 1 part. 
The ration of the rats of Lot 2 (fig. 1) contained 4 parts of this salt 
mixture and 96 parts of wild rice. Although the addition to the in¬ 
organic content of the ration greatly improved the growth of the rats, 
this growth was still far from normal. It is interesting to compare these 
growth curves with those obtained by McCollum and Davis 4 on a ration 
consisting of polished rice with the addition of the same salt mixture in 
the same proportion. Their rats not only failed to respond to this 
addition but steadily lost weight, thus indicating that the cultivated 
polished rice is more deficient in necessary food constituents than the 
wild variety. 
3 McCou,um, E. V., and Davis, M. the nature of the dietary deficiencies of rice. In Jour. 
Biol. Chem„ v. 23, p. 195. 1915* 
♦ McCouum, E. V., and Davis, M., op. cit., p. 195- 
