Abstract
Palmitic acid (PA) is the most abundant saturated fatty acid in human milk, where it is heavily concentrated in the sn-2-position (termed beta palmitate, BPA) and as such is conserved in all women, regardless of their diet or ethnicity, indicating its physiological and metabolic importance. We hypothesized that BPA improves the efficiency of nutrition-induced catch up growth as compared to sn-1,3 PA, which is present in vegetable oil. Pre-pubertal male rats were subjected to a 17 days food restriction followed by re-feeding for nine days with 1,3 PA or BPA-containing diets. We measured bone length, epiphyseal growth plate height (EGP, histology), bone quality (micro-CT and 3-point bending assay), and gene expression (Affymetrix). The BPA-containing diet improved most growth parameters: humeri length and EGP height were greater in the BPA-fed animals. Further analysis of the EGP revealed that the hypertrophic zone was significantly higher in the BPA group. In addition, Affymetrix analysis revealed that the diet affected the expression of several genes in the liver and EGP. Despite the very subtle difference between the diets and the short re-feeding period, we found a small but significant improvement in most growth parameters in the BPA-fed rats. This pre-clinical study may have important implications, especially for children with growth disorders and children with special nutritional needs.
Highlights
Human milk is considered the gold standard in infant feeding [1]
Chemical analysis of the serum showed that all values, including insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and leptin, were within normal range for Sprague-Dawley rats, with no significant differences between the groups
Since we previously showed that growth differentiation factor-5 (Gdf-5), was associated with both
Summary
Human milk is considered the gold standard in infant feeding [1]. Nutrients 2017, 9, 764 acids, carnitine, choline, taurine, minerals, and vitamins), the fatty components of human milk and its substitutes are drawing increasing interest, reflecting their importance later in life [3]. About 98% of lipids in human milk consist of triglycerides; namely, mixtures of three fatty acids bonded to the sn-1, sn-2, or sn-3 positions of the glycerol backbone. Unlike the other fatty acids in human milk, the sn-2 position of palmitic acid (beta palmitate, BPA) is conserved in all women, regardless of their diet or ethnic background, which indicates important physiological and metabolic implications [5]
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