LabDiet, Your World of Nutritional Answers
J. Nutr. First published November 18, 2009; doi:10.3945/jn.109.105163
 Journal of Nutrition, doi:10.3945/jn.109.105163
Vol. 140, No. 1, 18-24, January 2010
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Online Supplemental Material
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
140/1/18    most recent
jn.109.105163v1
Right arrow Purchase Article
Right arrow View Shopping Cart
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Bassett, C. M. C.
Right arrow Articles by Pierce, G. N.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Bassett, C. M. C.
Right arrow Articles by Pierce, G. N.
© 2010 American Society for Nutrition

Nutrition and Disease

Dietary Vaccenic Acid Has Antiatherogenic Effects in LDLr–/– Mice1–3,

Chantal M. C. Bassett4, Andrea L. Edel4, Amanda F. Patenaude4, Richelle S. McCullough4, David P. Blackwood4, P. Yvan Chouinard5, Paul Paquin5, Benoît Lamarche5 and Grant N. Pierce4,*

4 Canadian Centre for Agri-Food Research in Health and Medicine, St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre, and Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg R2H 2A6, Canada; 5 Institute of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods, Laval University, Québec GIV OA6, Canada

Epidemiological evidence has associated dietary trans fatty acids (TFA) with heart disease. TFA are primarily from hydrogenated fats rich in elaidic acid, but dairy products also contain naturally occurring TFA such as vaccenic acid. Our purpose in this study was to compare the effects of consuming a commercially hydrogenated vegetable shortening rich in elaidic TFA (18:1t9) or a butter rich in vaccenic TFA (18:1t11) in the absence and presence of dietary cholesterol on atherosclerosis. LDL receptor deficient (LDLr–/–) mice were fed 1 of 8 experimental diets for 14 wk with the fat content replaced by: regular (pork/soy) fat (RG), elaidic shortening (ES), regular butter (RB), vaccenic butter (VB), or an atherogenic diet containing 2% cholesterol with RG (CH+RG), ES (CH+ES), RB (CH+RB), or VB (CH+VB). Serum cholesterol levels were elevated with cholesterol feeding (P < 0.001), whereas serum triglyceride levels were higher only in the CH+RB (P < 0.001) and CH+VB (P < 0.001) groups compared with the other 6 groups. Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were significantly lower in the CH+VB group than in the CH+RB group (P < 0.001). Atherosclerosis was stimulated by dietary ES compared with RG (P = 0.021), but CH+ES did not stimulate atherosclerosis beyond CH+RG alone. In contrast, VB did not induce an increase in atherosclerotic plaque formation compared with the RG and RB diets and the CH+VB diet reduced atherosclerosis compared with the other diets containing cholesterol (P < 0.01). In summary, consuming a hydrogenated elaidic acid-rich diet stimulates atherosclerosis, whereas a vaccenic acid-rich butter protects against atherosclerosis in this animal model.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: gpierce{at}sbrc.ca.

Manuscript received 27 March 2009. Initial review completed 9 April 2009. Revision accepted 28 October 2009.

Published online 18 November 2009.