Abstract
The nutritional effect of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) was compared with that of long-chain triglyceride (LCT) in Mann-Williamson rats (MW rats). Bile and pancreatic juke secretions were surgically bypassed into the ileum in the animals used in the present study. Normal rats fed LCT were used controls. MW rats fed LCT had poorer fat absorption and nutritional status than normal rats. MW rats fed MCT had considerably higher fat absorption than the group fed LCT. Animals fed MCT also had better growth rates, nitrogen balance, and serum albumin and total protein levels than animals fed LCT. These results suggest that MCT is utilized more efficiently than LCT in the absence of bile and pancreatic juice in the small intestine and that it may be a useful dietary fat source in the fat malabsorption syndrome.
