| Abstract: | Effect of Hydrogenation on Stability and Nutritional Properties of Low-Erucic Rapeseed Oils Low-erucic rapeseed oils, Lesira and Erglu, were converted to more stable edible oils by selective hydrogenation of the linolenic acid moieties while retaining most of the linoleic acid groups. Feeding Lesira oil, hydrogenated Lesira oil, soybean oil and hydrogenated soybean oil to rats did not result in any appreciable differences in growth rates, whereas feeding conventional rapeseed oil caused extensive depression of growth. Among all the groups of animals the group fed conventional rapeseed oil showed the highest weights of heart and liver. The fatty acid patterns of depot and organ lipids did not show any major difference between the groups fed hydrogenated fats and those fed the corresponding unhydrogenated oils. The fatty acid composition of the organ lipids did not reveal deficiency in essential fatty acids. In the groups fed Lesira oil and hydrogenated Lesira oil half of the animals investigated exhibited myocardial lesions of light degree, probably due to the relatively high residual level of long-chain monoenoic fatty acids, whereas in the groups fed soybean oil and hydrogenated soybean oil only one-eighth of the rats examined exhibited such effects. The occurrence and severity of these myocardial lesions are known to be much higher in rats fed conventional rapeseed oils. |
