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Metabolic Effects in Rats of a Diet with a Moderate Level of Medium-Chain Triglycerides¹

Centre de Recherches sur la Nutrition du CNRS, F-92190 Meudon-Bellevue, France ^* Nestec, Ltd., Nestlé Research Centre, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland

Energy intake, weight gain, carcass composition, plasma fuels, hepatic metabolites and lipogenic enzyme activities were studied in adult rats fed either a low fat, high carbohydrate (LF) diet or one of two fat-containing diets in which 32% of the metabolizable energy was constituted by long-chain triglycerides (LCT) or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT). Compared with the LF diet, the MCT diet did not depress food and energy intake, weight gain, energy and nitrogen retention or lipid deposition and did not produce ketogenesis. The weight gain of rats fed LCT was 25% higher, and increased lipid deposition was observed. Lower lipogenic enzyme activities were observed in rats fed the LF diet containing 4% corn oil than in rats fed the MCT diet containing 1% corn oil. This effect disappeared when rats previously adapted to the LCT diet were fed LF or MCT diets containing 1% corn oil for 21 d. By d 21, in both groups, hepatic malic enzyme, ATP-citrate lyase, acetyl CoA carboxylase and fatty acid synthase activities were 2.2-, 2.0-, 2.3- and 1.8-fold higher than those of rats fed LCT. Intermediate hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities were observed in rats fed the MCT diet, compared with LCT (40% lower) and LF (1.6-fold higher) diets. These data show that in rats fed a diet in which MCT supplies 32% of metabolizable energy, a high activity of lipogenic enzymes is observed, suggesting that MCT had no inhibitory effect on the activity of these enzymes.

KEY WORDS: • medium-chain triglycerides • dietary fat • lipogenic enzyme activities • rats

¹ This work was supported by Nestec, Ltd., Nestlé Research Centre, Vers-chez-les-Blancs, CH-1000 Lausanne 26, Switzerland.

² To whom correspondence should be sent: Centre de Recherches sur la Nutrition du CNRS, 9, rue Jules Hetzel, F-92190 Meudon-Bellevue, France, Telephone (1) 45 34 75 50, ext. 2283.

Manuscript received 2 February 1990. Revision accepted 23 August 1990.