Nutritional Properties of the Molecularly Distilled Fractions of Autoxidized Fats

Abstract

Lard and refined cottonseed oil which had been aerated at 95°C. for 200 to 300 hours and a sample of hydrogenated vegetable oil which had been used commercially for deep fat frying for 80 hours at 190°C. were molecularly distilled at 280°C. The distillates were used in nutritional experiments. When the distillates were included in purified diets containing either 5 or 30% casein, the resulting growth of most of the weanling male rats fed these diets was only slightly below that of matching rats receiving fresh lard. In contrast, distillate added to the nonvolatile polymeric residue from the molecular distillation of autoxidized fats had a protective effect markedly below that of fresh fats. The net energy value of the diet containing distillate was lower than that of the diet containing fresh fat. Liver, kidney and adrenal weights of rats fed distillate were within the normal spread for these organs and were only slightly higher than those of the controls, thereby supplying additional evidence for the low toxicity, if any, of these fractions.