Cardiopathogenicity of soybean oil and tower rapessed oil triglycerides when fed to male rats.

The triglycerides of soybean oil were purified by molecular distillation and those of Tower rapeseed oil by molecular distillation and adsorption chromatography. The original oils and the purified triglycerides were incorporated in semisynthetic diets at 20% by weight and fed for 16 weeks to weanling male Sprague-Dawley rats to compare the nutritional and pathological effects of the oils and their triglyceride fractions on rats. The study was carried out at two independent laboratories. No significant differences were observed between the results of the two establishments. The incidence of myocardial lesions was significantly higher in rats fed Tower rapeseed oil than in those fed soybean oil. Purification of the triglycerides by molecular distillation and adsorption chromatography appeared to have no major effect on the incidence of myocardial lesions. This supports our previous findings that the cardiopathogenicity of the test oils to rats resides in the triglycerides of these oils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]