The Influence of Selected Vegetable Fats on Plasma Lipid Concentrations and Aortic Atheromatosis in Cholesterol-Fed and Diethylstilbestrol-Implanted Cockerels

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Abstract
In cockerels fed diets containing 8.2% of vegetable fat and 2% of cholesterol, there was a close connection between plasma lipid pattern and the composition of the fat fed. Plasma cholesterol concentrations were inversely proportional to the percentage of polyenoic acids in the fat (or directly proportional to saturated plus monoenoic). Plasma lipid phosphorus concentrations were inversely proportional to the total amount of unsaturation. Aortic lesion scores were not closely related to the composition of the fat fed. It appears that a given plasma cholesterol concentration in birds fed some fats may not be so injurious as the same concentration would be in birds fed other fats. The cottonseed oil used here had peculiarly iniquitous properties, producing high lesion scores and plasma lipid concentrations. Thus certain substances of unknown identity in a fat may cause it to have an effect on lipid patterns of cholesterol-fed birds other than that predicted on the basis of fatty acid composition. High plasma lipid concentrations of endogenous origin, produced by implanting pellets of diethylstilbestrol, were not greatly influenced by the composition of the fat in the diet, and thus the influence of dietary fat on plasma lipid patterns depends upon the mechanism by which plasma lipids have been elevated.