Effects of feeding beef fat enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acid biohydrogenation products to pigs

Sixteen barrows were fed one of two diets containing either 5% beef kidney fat enriched with polyunsaturated fatty acid biohydrogenation products or control kidney fat for 7 weeks. Diet did not affect feed intake, average daily gain, feed conversion efficiency or body composition. Feeding beef fat enriched with biohydrogenation products led to their deposition and differential metabolism of trans fatty acids in subcutaneous fat. Total serum cholesterol and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (i.e. good cholesterol) were decreased in pigs fed biohyrogenation enriched beef fat, however low density lipoprotein cholesterol (i.e. bad cholesterol), triglycerides and atherogenic indices were not affected. Future studies examining the effects of feeding biohydrogenation enriched beef fat may, therefore, require greater rates of feeding that are comparable to human consumption, and the use of disease models to more intensively examine their potential effects on health.