S. Purushothama et al., A STUDY OF PLASMA AND LIVER LIPID PROFILE OF RATS FED PALM OIL OR SAFFLOWER OIL ALONG WITH CHOLESTEROL, Nutrition research, 14(2), 1994, pp. 255-269
Male weanling Wistar rats were fed synthetic diets containing 20% saff
lower oil or 20% palm oil along with 0.3% cholesterol for a period of
6 weeks. The control groups were fed with the same 20% oil diets witho
ut cholesterol. The dietary treatment did not alter the food intake or
the growth rate as compared to controls. The plasma cholesterol of th
e cholesterol supplemented groups had in general the expected higher l
evel, and cholesterol associated with HDL, LDL and VLDL fractions was
more in the palm oil group. Triglycerides were higher in palm oil grou
p and there was no significant difference with respect to phospholipid
s. Analysis of liver cholesterol indicated more of esterified choleste
rol with palm oil group than with the safflower oil group. Analysis of
liver and plasma fatty acids generally reflected the type of oil inta
ke as evidenced by the increased level of palmitic (16:0), oleic (18:1
) and linoleic acids (18:2), besides a higher concentration of arachid
onic acid (20:4) in safflower oil fed groups. The fatty acid compositi
on of the control and cholesterol supplemented groups demonstrated a s
imilar P/S ratio, 16:0/18:1 ratio and 18:1/18:2 ratio as that of the d
iet provided to these animals and indicated the storage of linoleic ac
id (18:2) in the liver. Thus, our studies indicate the type of fat has
a favourable influence on the cholesterol of the plasma and the liver
, and indicate that palm oil has a favourable effect on the cholestero
l metabolism similar to unsaturated safflower oil.