Abstract

To characterize the effect of long-term supply medium-chain triglycerides on the lipid metabolism, the authors determined under postprandial conditions the ratio between the ketone body concentrations in the blood and the liver, the in vitro fatty-acid synthesis in the liver and the adipose tissue, the plasma and liver lipids and the fatty-acid and phospholipid spectra of the plasma and the erythrocytic, thrombocytic and liver mitochondrial membranes, in rats after 9 weeks on an isoenergetic diet containing 12% of medium-chain triglycerides or lard. The long-term supply of medium-chain triglycerides induced a 3-fold increase of the fatty-acid synthesis in the liver and the fatty tissue. In contrast to this, no differences in the concentrations of acetacetate and beta-hydroxybutyrate were detected in the liver and the adipose tissue. The triglyceride and cholesterol contents in the liver were significantly reduced. In spite of the increase of palmitic acid proportion as the end product of the de novo fatty-acid synthesis in the plasma lipids and the erythrocytic membrane, the proportion of essential fatty acids in the membrane lipids under study was not affected; the simultaneous supply of 3% of sunflower oil meets the requirements for essential fatty acids.