Reduction of carcass fat in swine with dietary addition of dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate.

Swine weighing 80 to 85 kg were fed a basal corn-soybean meal diet plus a mixture of dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate (3:1) (triose) or Polycose (control), a glucose polymer, as 3.85% of calories (4% of the diet). Twenty-four pigs were pair-fed the triose mixture or control diet for 28 d in litter-mate pairs of the same sex. Weight gain and feed consumption were recorded and carcasses were evaluated for fat and muscle accretion. The right rear leg and rear one-third of the right loin were skinned, deboned, ground and analyzed for protein, fat, moisture and ash content. Average backfat depth and backfat depth at the first, last and 10th rib were reduced by 12, 15, 14 and 12% (P less than .01), respectively, in triose-fed pigs. Loin eye area and untrimmed lean cuts were not altered by diet, but percentage trimmed lean cuts was higher (P less than .02) in triose-fed pigs (57.6 vs 55.3%). Leg and loin tissue samples from pigs fed the triose mixture had a lower (P less than .01) percentage of fat and a corresponding increased (P less than .01) percentage of protein. Organ weights and the blood biochemical profile were not altered by triose feeding. Liver function tests were not altered in animals consuming the trioses, except for an 18% decrease (P less than .05) in serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase. Ingestion of dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate will reduce body fat in limit-fed swine without reducing muscle protein deposition.