Effect of Linoleic Acid on Nutritional Muscular Dystrophy in the Chick

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Abstract
Experiments were conducted which showed that in the absence of dietary linoleic acid, muscular dystrophy does not occur in chicks even when the diet is low in both vitamin E and sulfur amino acids. The addition of graded levels of linoleic acid to the diet resulted in proportionate increases in the incidence and severity of muscular dystrophy. The vitamin E requirement for prevention of muscular dystrophy was increased with increasing levels of linoleic acid up to 0.5% linoleic acid. No increase was observed in the vitamin E requirement for prevention of muscular dystrophy when the level of linoleic acid was increased from 0.5 to 2.5% of the diet. Vitamin E at a level which completely prevented muscular dystrophy had no effect on the level of linoleic acid in muscle lipids, which increased in both dystrophic and non-dystrophic chicks in proportion to the amount of linoleic acid in the diet.