EVALUATION OF LOW ERUCIC ACID RAPESEED OIL FED TO MONKEYS: CARDIAC LIPIDS, HISTOCHEMISTRY AND PATHOLOGY

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Abstract
Male and female cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis), equally divided as to sex, were fed, up to 24 wk, diets which contained 20% by weight of either soybean oil or Brassica napus cv. Tower rapeseed oil which contained 0.2% erucic acid. Long-chain monoenes appeared to accumulate in the cardiac lipids of both sexes fed Tower rapeseed oil. Histochemical studies suggested no myocardial damage associated with the feeding of either diet. Histopathological examination of the hearts of monkeys fed the two diets showed that only two male monkeys fed soybean oil for 24 wk had myocardial lesions, and these were multiple small foci of mononuclear cells. The results indicate that Tower rapeseed oil is indistinguishable from soybean oil in its nutritional and pathological properties.