Nitrogen balance
Encyclopedia
Nitrogen balance is the measure of nitrogen
output subtracted from nitrogen input.
Blood urea nitrogen
can be used in estimating nitrogen balance, as can the urea concentration in urine.
A positive value is often found during periods of growth, tissue repair or pregnancy. This means that the intake of nitrogen into the body is greater than the loss of nitrogen from the body, so there is an increase in the total body pool of protein.
A negative value can be associated with burns, fevers, wasting diseases and other serious injuries and during periods of fasting. This means that the amount of nitrogen excreted from the body is greater than the amount of nitrogen ingested.
It can be used in the evaluation of malnutrition.
Nitrogen
Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...
output subtracted from nitrogen input.
Blood urea nitrogen
Blood urea nitrogen
The blood urea nitrogen test is a measure of the amount of nitrogen in the blood in the form of urea, and a measurement of renal function. Urea is a by- product from metabolism of proteins by the liver and is removed from the blood by the kidneys.-Physiology:The liver produces urea in the urea...
can be used in estimating nitrogen balance, as can the urea concentration in urine.
A positive value is often found during periods of growth, tissue repair or pregnancy. This means that the intake of nitrogen into the body is greater than the loss of nitrogen from the body, so there is an increase in the total body pool of protein.
A negative value can be associated with burns, fevers, wasting diseases and other serious injuries and during periods of fasting. This means that the amount of nitrogen excreted from the body is greater than the amount of nitrogen ingested.
It can be used in the evaluation of malnutrition.
See also
- Biological valueBiological ValueBiological value is a measure of the proportion of absorbed protein from a food which becomes incorporated into the proteins of the organism's body. It summarises how readily the broken down protein can be used in protein synthesis in the cells of the organism. Proteins are the major source of...
- Net protein utilizationNet protein utilizationThe net protein utilization, or NPU, is the ratio of amino acid converted to proteins to the ratio of amino acids supplied. This figure is somewhat affected by the salvage of essential amino acids within the body, but is profoundly affected by the level of limiting amino acids within a...
- Protein efficiency ratioProtein efficiency ratioProtein efficiency ratio is based on the weight gain of a test subject divided by its intake of a particular food protein during the test period....
- Protein digestibility
- Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score