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Acceleration of Essential Fatty Acid Deficiency by Dietary Cholesterol¹

Hormel Institute and Department of Physiological Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Austin, Minnesota

The inclusion of 1% of cholesterol in an EFA-free diet accelerates the appearance of dermal signs of essential fatty acid deficiency in rats. This acceleration has been found to be more uniformly produced if depletion is begun with 15-day-old rats rather than with 21-day-old rats. Linoleate fed with the cholesterol prevents or cures dermal symptoms. Feeding 2 or 5% of cholesterol induces accelerated deficiency equal to that induced by 1% of cholesterol. That dietary cholesterol accentuates EFA deficiency is indicated by a lowered food efficiency, lower weight gain, retardation of testicular development and an accentuated polyunsaturated fatty acid pattern of heart lipides indicative of EFA deficiency. The proportion of trienoic acid increases and the proportion of tetraenoic acid decreases in the endogenous PUFA of heart tissue from rats having an accelerated EFA deficiency. The pattern of polyunsaturated acids in cholesterol-fed EFA-deficient rats is similar to that found in deficient rats fed a high proportion of saturated fats.

Manuscript received 15 July 1959.