Polyamines in food—implications for growth and health☆

Abstract Different types of food (fruits, vegetables, meat, and milk products) were analyzed by high pressure liquid chromatography to determine their polyamine (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) contents. All foods contained some polyamines, although the concentrations in different individual food components were variable. As was established earlier using 14C-labeled putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, polyamines are readily taken up by the gut and enter the systemic circulation. Food appears to constitute a major source of polyamines for humans and animals. The distribution of polyamines in the body, as determined by measuring the accumulation of 14C-spermidine in different tissues of the rat, was correlated with the metabolic activity and growth of particular organs. Thus, phytohemagglutinin induced both extensive hyperplastic growth and the preferential accumulation of labeled spermidine in the gut. Correspondingly, when skeletal muscle growth was promoted by the β-antagonist, clenbuterol, 14C-spermidine was sequestered by the hind leg gastrocnemius muscle. It is concluded that food polyamines are not only necessary for normal body metabolism, but are also used and directed preferentially to tissues and organs that have been stimulated to grow by metabolic signals.