Relation of Saturated, Medium- and Long-Chain Triglycerides to Growth, Appetite, Thirst and Weight Maintenance Requirements

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Abstract
Triglycerides of saturated, medium-chain (6 to 12 carbons) fatty acids (MCT) and of saturated, long-chain (14 to 18 carbons) acids (LCT), which had been prepared from coconut and other palm kernel oils were studied in feeding experiments on rats receiving a purified diet with 30% casein. Their effects on growth, food and water intakes, weight maintenance requirements, and the testicular fat body were compared with those of lard and fat-free diets. The body weights of freely-eating rats on lard were significantly higher than those of comparable animals on MCT, the latter being similar to those on fat-free diets. Those on LCT grew least. The water consumptions of the rats on MCT were the highest; the Caloric intakes of those on the MCT and fat-free diets were similar and, on the average, slightly higher (not significantly) than that of the lard animals. The LCT animals ate and drank least. The weight maintenance requirements of animals kept at constant weight by restricted feeding were significantly higher for the groups fed MCT and LCT than for the groups fed lard. Among the animals kept at constant weight, those on MCT and fat-free diets drank significantly more than those on LCT or lard. The testicular fat bodies (which are roughly proportional to total neutral fat) were heaviest in relation to the body weight in animals on 30% lard and on LCT and lower for those on 30% MCT and fat-free diets. This was also true of animals on the same diets on restricted food intake.