Effect of chain length and saturation of the fatty acids in dietary triglycerides on lipid metabolism in Wistar rats

We investigated the effect of the chain length and the degree of saturation of fatty acids in dietary triglycerides on serum lipid profiles and hepatic lipid metabolism in Wistar rats. Fat component of the basal diet (soybean oil) was replaced with fats with fatty acids of different chain lengths and saturation and the serum lipids were monitored for 150 days. Principal component (PC) analysis of serum lipid components was related to chain length and saturation. The combined effect of chain length and saturation on PC 1 scores was evaluated by multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that average chain length of the fatty acids of triglycerides has a higher influence on the quality of serum lipid parameters than the average degree of saturation. Expression of selected genes responsible for lipid metabolism showed similar trends in medium chain saturated and long chain polyunsaturated diet groups. Practical applications Dietary lipids contain a wide range of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids with different chain lengths. Overall contribution of these different fatty acids decides the health effects of the lipids in the diet. Present study shows that the fats with medium chains and higher degree of saturation and fats with long chains and higher degree of unsaturation (lower degree of saturation) affect serum lipid parameters and expression of hepatic genes involved in the lipid metabolism in a similar manner. Such information is important for physicians to plan dietary schemes to improve the nutritional health and manage the noncommunicable diseases.