Fried Sunflower Oil intake affects Bone Quality, in Growing Rats

Abstract

The effect of consuming a diet containing sunflower oil, which wasrepeatedly used to fry potatoes, on bone mass and biomechanicalcompetence in growing rats, was investigated. Male Wistar rats (21±1days old) (n=34) were assigned at weaning to one of three diet groups for8 weeks: those fed a control diet (C; n=10), a sunflower oil (SFO; n=12)diet or a SFO diet which was repeatedly heated (SFOx; n=12); both mixedwith a commercial rat chow at weight ratio of 13% (w/w). Zoometrics,food intake, serum fatty acids composition and lipid profile, total skeletonbone mineral density (BMD), bone mineral content (BMC), and femurbiomechanical competence were assessed. Animals fed SFOx diet hadaltered body growth and showed both increased serum total cholesterol(T-chol) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-chol).SFOx rats also showed marked differences in BMC, their femur andtibiae had the lowest structural and geometrical properties, but materialproperties were unchanged. This study showed that growing male ratsconsuming a SFOx diet adversely affected their body growth, and lipidmetabolism. Additionally their BMC and bone biomechanical propertieswere also altered due to modifications in bone geometric design.