Effect of Edible Oils on Essential Fatty Acid Nutriture of Rats

抄録

Dietary fat varies widely in both quality and quantity. In diets of poor income groups in India half of the total fat intake is obtained from edible oils. Also, there are regional preferences for these oils. The levels of essential fatty acids (EFA) vary widely in different edible oils. Hence a study was undertaken to investigate the effects of intake of different edible oils on EFA nutritional status in rats.
Weanling rats were fed different edible oils in a casein-based diet for a period of five weeks. The EFA nutritional status as assessed from the plasma total fatty acid composition was normal in rats fed safflower (SO) or groundnut (GNO) oils. However, the fatty acid profile was suggestive of EFA deficiency in rats fed coconut (CO) or hydrogenated coconut (HCO) oils. In rats fed palmolein (PO), the EFA nutritive status was found to be marginally adequate.
In the habitual cereal-pulse-based diets of Indians, a major part (80%) of dietary EFA is obtained from the invisible fat and only one fifth is derived from the visible fat. Therefore the marginally adequate levels of linoleic acid present in PO may be compensated by the linoleic acid of cereals and pulses present in the diet. It appears therefore that replacement of GNO or SO with PO in the Indian diets may not materially affect the EFA nutriture of the population. However, the effect of PO on a cereal-pulse-based diet in comparison to that of other edible oils needs to be evaluated.