Meadowfoam oil is unusual because over 95% of the
fatty acids are 20- and 22-carbon
aliphatic acids with cis double bonds located principally at the 5- and/or 13-position. Since little information is available on the metabolism of the 5c-20:1 and 5c,13c-22:2
fatty acids, an exploratory study in mice was conducted to investigate the metabolism of purified samples of the
free fatty acids isolated from
meadowfoam oil, and to determine the effect of
meadowfoam oil on
weight gain and tissue
lipid composition. Mice fed diets containing 5% by wt of the purified 5c-20:1 or 5c,13c-22:2 for 6 days exhibited no apparent physiological problems. Total liver
lipids from mice fed the purified
fatty acid diets contained mean values of 2.0% 5c-20:1 and 2.1% 5c,13c-22:2; total heart
lipids contained 1.7% 5c-20:1 and 10.7% 5c,13c-22:2. Liver total
phospholipids from mice fed a 5%
meadowfoam oil diet for 19 wk contained 1.4% 5c-20:1 and 1.9% 5c,13c-22:2. There was no evidence of desaturation, elongation or retroconversion.
Weight gain for mice fed the
meadowfoam oil diet for 19 wk was similar to mice fed
corn oil, and was higher than for mice fed hydrogenated
cottonseed oil. Considering the high 5c-20:1 and 5c,13c-22:2 content of the diets, the percentages of these
fatty acids in mouse tissue
lipids from both the short- and long-term studies were low.
Weight gain was surprisingly good since the
meadowfoam oil diet was essential
fatty acid-deficient. Results of this initial investigation suggest that the 5c-20:1 and 5c,13c-22:2
fatty acids were utilized primarily for energy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)