The Effects of Dietary Fatty Acid Composition on Energy and Dry Matter Digestibility in Siberian hamsters (P. Sungorus)

Abstract

Dietary lipids affect many physiological processes such as aging, neurological susceptibility to hypoxia, cancer, and cardiovascular and inflammatory disease. In hibernating mammals the fatty acid composition of the diet may effect several parameters of torpor including, minimum body temperature during torpor, duration of torpor bouts and metabolic rate during torpor. Many experiments alter diet fatty acid composition assuring that the diets remain isocaloric. However, the effects of fatty acid composition of the diet on digestibility of dry matter and energy are not known. Therefore, we designed an experiment that allowed us to discern whether isocaloric diets of different fatty acid saturation are assimilated equally and whether there are sex differences in digestive performance of a well‐studied hibernator, Siberian hamsters (P. Sungorus). Preliminary data suggest that the digestibility of the diets supplemented with saturated fats is lower than the diet supplemented with unsaturated fats, in male hamsters but not in females. These are surprising results; therefore we are in the midst of a second round of experiments to ascertain the accuracy of these results.