Studies on the Comparative Nutritive Value of Fats

Abstract

No differences in the rate of growth of male and female rats were noted over a 6-week period when the diet contained butterfat or cottonseed oil. The growth rate of rats receiving rape-seed oil diets was somewhat less and the efficiency of utilization of these diets poorer than those obtained on the butter or cottonseed oil diets. It is believed that the less efficient utilization of the rape-seed oil diet is to be attributed to the poor digestibility of the fat which may be due to its characteristically high content of eracic acid (Δ^13:14 docosenoic acid). No stimulating effect on growth was produced by the administration of vaccenic acid or hydrogenated China wood oil to the rats on the rape-seed oil diet. Moreover, no increased growth resulted in the cottonseed oil group when a supplement of vaccenic acid was fed. It is concluded that vaccenic acid plays no specific role in relation to growth of the rat.