The effect of diet, age, and sex on cholesterol metabolism in white leghorn chickens.

Abstract

The cholesterol metabolism of chickens differed in birds of different age and sex. The normal serum cholesterol levels were higher in females than in males and higher in 1-week-old chicks than in mature birds of the same sex. Laying hens were less susceptible to hypercholesterolemia induced by dietary cholesterol than were mature cockerels or young chicks of either sex. Corn oil tended to increase the degree of hypercholesterolemia in all cholesterol-fed birds except young cockerels. A vitamin-A-rich oil, dogfish liver oil, decreased the rise in serum cholesterol level in cholesterol-fed chicks of both sexes, but in mature birds it produced the opposite effect. The addition of 1% cholesterol to the control diet of hens increased the yolk cholesterol concentration of eggs laid by the birds and this increase in concentration was greatly enhanced if 10% corn oil was also present in the diet.