Role of oleic acid in the metabolism of essential fatty acids

Groups of young male guinea pigs were fed diets containing corn oil, coconut oil, coconut oil plus elaidic acid, and coconut oil plus oleic acid. The oleic acid-fed group showed signs of essential fatty acid deficiency after four weeks and severe signs after eight weeks. The elaidic acid-fed group did not show these symptoms. It is proposed that oleic acid competes competitively with linoleic acid as a substrate for the enzymes involved in linoleate transformations when only a very limited supply of linoleic acid is available to the animals and oleic acid is made available in relatively large amounts. A detailed analysis of the serum, liver, and adipose tissue lipid and a study of the incorporation of acetate-1-C¹⁴ into different lipids is presented. This paper is based on work supported in part by United States Public Health Grant No. HTS 5306 and by a grant from the Nutrition Foundation Inc., New York.