title: α-Linolenate reduces the dietary requirement for linoleate in the growing rat.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  We hypothesized that due to the absence of a dietary source of omega-3 fatty acids, the essential fatty acid (EFA) deficiency model leads to an overestimate of linoleic acid (LA) requirements.
  
  
  METHODS
  over 7wk, young rats consumed an EFA diet containing either 0en% linoleate (0LA) and 0en% α-linolenate (0LNA) or a diet containing 0.5en% LNA plus one of seven levels of added LA (0.12-4.0en%; n=6/group).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Rats consuming the 0LA-0LNA diet had the lowest final body weight, 34-68% lower LA and arachidonate in plasma and liver, 87% lower LA in epididymal fat, and an 8-20 fold higher eicosatrienoate in plasma, liver and muscle lipids. 0.5LNA completely prevented the lower growth and partly prevented the rise in eicosatrienoate seen in the 0LA-0LNA group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Providing dietary LNA at 0.5 en% reduces the rat's physiological requirement for LA by an estimated factor of at least four (0.5en% instead of 2en%). Since LA requirements in humans are also based on the same flawed model of EFA deficiency, it is plausible that they too have been overestimated and should therefore be reinvestigated.
authors: INRA, UR 909 Nutrition et Régulation Lipidique des Fonctions Cérébrales, F-78352 Jouy-en-Josas, France.
authors: P
authors: P
authors: Guesnet
authors: S-M
authors: SM
authors: Lallemand
authors: J-M
authors: JM
authors: Alessandri
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Jouin
authors: S C
authors: SC
authors: Cunnane
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001095:Arachidonic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism*; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000097:blood; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated / Q000378:metabolism; D019787:Linoleic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015430:Weight Gain; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D001095:Arachidonic Acids; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005228:Fatty Acids, Essential; D005231:Fatty Acids, Unsaturated; D017962:alpha-Linolenic Acid; D004281:Docosahexaenoic Acids; D019787:Linoleic Acid; C026219:docosapentaenoic acid