IUBio

Nitrogen balance...how can we measure this?

Jason Taylor theoblit at wam.umd.edu
Mon Dec 11 16:02:11 EST 1995


References: <dhealth.130.0012A717 at gate.

diane hein (dhealth at gate.net) wrote:

: 1.  Does anyone know how to measure nitrogen balance?

Hi Diane.  THere are several ways to measure this now.  The old way :

"nitrogen balance"=<Nitrogen intake>-(<urine urea nitrogen> + 4 grams)

nitrogen intake ~= protein intake/6.25
<>=integrated over 24 hours.  (Must save all urine.)  
urine urea nitrogen=urea concentration*volume 

: 2.  Anyone know the clinical symptoms of loss of nitrogen balance?

Loss of?  You might mean imbalance.  Negative --> catabolism.
Positive --> growth.  Ideally it is +4 - +6 if you are healing.
Negative nitrogen balance also occurs if you're diet has bad amino
acid ratios.  I'd think you'd have a craving for, say, milk if it was
negative.  Hope this helps some.

Cheers,
Jason
______________________________________________________________________________
Jason Taylor, Greenbelt, MD  USA|"Doctor, don't cut so deep!  That's the third 
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~theoblit| operating table you've ruined this week!"  




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