CHANGES IN THE FATTY-ACID PATTERN OF PLASMA FRACTIONS OF RATS FED COCONUT, OLIVE OR SUNFLOWER OIL

The fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipids, triacylglycerols a nd cholesteryl esters from rats fed diets supplemented (10% w/v) with coconut, olive or sunflower oil during six days has been studied. Rats fed the olive oil diet showed an increased amount of oleic acid where as the animals fed the sunflower oil diet showed a higher content of l inoleic acid than that of the other two groups. n-6 polyunsaturated fa tty acids were mainly carried in phospholipid and cholesteryl-ester fr actions. There were no differences in the amount of n-6 and n-3 polyun saturated fatty acids. The effect of diet supplementation was shown af ter only six days of treatment and the results were similar to those r eported in longer treatments.