Dairy fat contains high amounts of
saturated fatty acids (FA), which are associated with
cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Manipulation of dairy cows nutrition allows to decrease the saturated FA content of milk fat, and is associated with increases either in
conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and trans-11-C18:1 contents, or in trans-10-C18:1 content. CLA putatively exhibits beneficial properties on CVD risk, whereas trans FA are suspected to be detrimental. The present study compared the effects of a trans-10-C18:1-rich butter (T10 butter), a trans-11-C18:1+CLA-rich butter (T11-CLA butter) and a standard butter (S butter) on
lipid parameters linked to the CVD risk and fatty streaks. Thirty-six White New Zealand rabbits were fed one of the three
butters (12% of the diet, plus 0.2%
cholesterol) for 6 (experiment 1) or 12 (experiment 2) weeks. Liver
lipids, plasma
lipids and
lipoprotein concentrations (experiments 1 and 2) and aortic
lipid deposition (experiment 2) were determined. The T10 butter increased
VLDL-cholesterol compared with the two others, and total and
LDL-cholesterol compared with the T11-CLA butter ( P < 0.05). The T10 butter also increased non-HDL/HDL ratio and aortic
lipid deposition compared with the T11-CLA butter ( P < 0.05). The T11-CLA butter non-significantly reduced aortic
lipid deposition compared with the S butter, and decreased
HDL-cholesterol and increased liver triacyglycerols compared with the two other
butters ( P < 0.05). These results suggest that, compared with the S butter, the T10 butter had detrimental effects on plasma
lipid and
lipoprotein metabolism in rabbits, whereas the T11-CLA butter was neutral or tended to reduce the aortic
lipid deposition.