Effect of Different Dietary Fats on Choline Requirement of Rats.

Abstract

Rats fed on diet containing butter fat required a higher level of choline to reduce the level of liver fat to within the normal range, than did rats fed the same level of corn oil. This "requirement" for choline, as measured by liver fat, was not greater than 0.12% of choline chloride with diet containing 30% of corn oil and about 0.15% of choline chloride with diet containing 30% of butter fat. These values were not affected by supplements of cystine, or methionine and tryptophan or all 3 amino acids. When no choline was fed, rats receiving butter fat grew at a more rapid rate than those receiving corn oil. It is suggested that the reduced rate of growth of rats fed corn oil was caused by kidney damage.