title: Studies to investigate the absorption and excretion of shea oleine sterols in rat and man.
abstract: Shea oleine (SU), an oil fraction derived from the nut of the African tree, Butyrospermum parkii, is used as a frying oil and, after hardening (SH), in margarine and toffee fat. Both SU and SH contain a high level (approximately 8%) of 4,4-dimethylsterols (4,4-DMS), mostly as esters of cinnamic acid. As part of a series of studies evaluating SU, investigations to study rat and human dietary utilization were carried out. These comprised fecal fat analysis of groups of Wistar rats and a small number (four subjects) of human volunteers. Groups of rats were administered SU in a semisynthetic diet over 3 weeks at up to 20% in the diet (approximately 10 g/kg/day). In the human study, four male volunteers consumed a single 25-g portion of SU (approximately 0.4 g/kg) and ate no other vegetable fat during the course of the study. No preferential absorption of any of the 4,4-DMS occurred in the rat or man. Apparent absorption of the most prominent sterol fraction in the unsaponifiable material, 4,4-DMS, as estimated by its disappearance from feces, was similar in both species (27% to 52% in the rat compared with 13% to 49% in human subjects). Both rats and humans showed a similar profile of dietary and fecal 4,4-DMS fraction sterol components.
authors.affiliation: Safety and Environmental Assurance Centre, Unilever Research, Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lesley K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Earl
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baldrick
authors.forename: Paul A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Hepburn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D005526:Food, Formulated; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009754:Nuts / Q000737:chemistry*; D009829:Oleic Acids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013045:Species Specificity; D013261:Sterols / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004042:Dietary Fats, Unsaturated; D009829:Oleic Acids; D010938:Plant Oils; D013261:Sterols; C434349:shea oleine