PRECLINICAL EVALUATION OF SINGLE-CELL OILS THAT ARE HIGHLY ENRICHED WITH ARACHIDONIC-ACID AND DOCOSAHEXAENOIC ACID

Arachidonic acid (ARA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are important in human brain and retina development, and there is growing evidence sho wing the importance of these fatty acids in infant nutrition. Triglyce ride oils, highly enriched in ARA (ARASCO(R)) and DHA (DHASCO(R)), wer e evaluated using very high dose acute (20 g/kg) and 4-wk subchronic g avage feedings in weanling Sprague-Dawley rats. The combination of the se oils, Formulaid(R), was also tested in the 4-wk subchronic study. A RASCO, DHASCO and Formulaid were found to have a no-observable-adverse -effect level of more than 2.5 g/kg/day, 1.25 g/kg/day and 3.75 g/kg/d ay, respectively. This represents a 50-fold safety margin over the int ended use of Formulaid in infant formula. Survival, clinical signs, bo dy weight gain, food consumption, haematology, clinical chemistry and histopathological evaluations failed to show any significant differenc es in animals administered ARASCO, DHASCO or Formulaid compared with t hat in control animals administered equal amounts of high oleic sunflo wer oil. The bioavailability of ARASCO, DHASCO and Formulaid was verif ied by increases in DHA and ARA levels in heart and liver tissues in t hese animals. Because these oils are enriched in only a single bioacti ve fatty acid, and they have been shown to be safe, they may offer a n ew source of these fatty acids in speciality foods such as infant form ula. Copyright (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd