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Dietary -Linolenic Acid-Enriched Oil Reduces Body Fat Content and Induces Liver Enzyme Activities Relating to Fatty Acid ß-Oxidation in Rats^1,2,

Department of Animal Nutrition, National Institute of Animal Industry, Tsukuba, Ibaraki-ken, 305 ^* Kyushu National Agricultural Experiment Station, Nishigoshi, Kumamoto-ken, 861-11, Japan

The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of dietary -linolenic acid-enriched oil extracted from fungi on rat body composition and on the various enzyme activities relating to fat metabolism in the liver. The oil contained 25.3 g -linolenic acid/100 g fatty acids. The levels of -linolenic acid-enriched oil in the diets were 0, 1.5 and 4%, to give 0, 2.88 and 7.68 g -linolenic acid/kg diet. The control diet contained 8% soybean oil. The rats were given free access to these diets for 4 wk. Body weight gain was less in the -linolenic acid oil-fed groups than in the control group, although food intake was similar among the three groups. Absolute and relative carcass fat weights were significantly lower in the -linolenic acid oil-fed groups than in the control group. Carcass protein and water contents were not different among the three groups, although values were slightly greater than controls in -linolenic acid-fed groups when expressed relative to body weight. Plasma total cholesterol and free fatty acid concentrations generally were lower in the -linolenic acid oil-fed groups than in the control group. In the liver, there were no significant differences in activities of malic enzyme and citrate cleavage enzyme among the three groups. However, the activities of carnitine palmitoyltransferase and peroxisomal ß-oxidation were significantly higher in the -linolenic acid oil-fed groups than in the control group. These results clearly demonstrate that dietary -linolenic acid oil reduces body fat content and facilitates fatty acid ß-oxidation in the liver.

KEY WORDS: • body fat • -linolenic acid • lipid metabolism • rats

¹ Supported in part by Idemitsu Petrochemical, Tokyo, Japan, and by a Bio Renaissance Program from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (BRP 93-I-A-3).

² The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 USC section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

³ To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 30 April 1993. Revision accepted 15 November 1993.