Increasing the amount of fat in a conjugated linoleic acid-supplemented diet reduces lipodystrophy in mice.

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a naturally occurring group of dienoic derivatives of linoleic acid found in beef and dairy products. However, when 1 g CLA/100 g diet was given to mice in a low fat diet (4 g fat/100 g diet), they showed a marked decrease in fat mass, but demonstrated symptoms of lipoatrophic diabetes, i.e., marked hepatomegaly and insulin resistance. In this study, to determine whether the decrease in adipose tissue was responsible for these adverse effects, mice were fed different doses of CLA and dietary fat. In Experiment 1, mice were fed different doses of CLA (0, 0.1 and 1 g CLA/100 g diet) in a fixed 4 g fat/100 g diet; in those fed 0.1 g CLA, subcutaneous white adipose tissue (WAT) weight was 48% lower than in mice fed 0 g CLA. The mice fed 0.1 g CLA did not exhibit hepatomegaly and insulin resistance. In Experiment 2, mice were fed for 5 mo different amounts of dietary fat (4, 13 and 34 g fat/100 g diet) in 0 or 1 g CLA/100 g diet; in mice fed 1 g CLA with 34 g fat, retroperitoneal and subcutaneous WAT weights were 76 and 79% lower, respectively, than those of mice fed 0 g CLA with 34 g fat. Mice fed 1 g CLA in the diet with 34 g fat had normal plasma insulin concentrations and a 45% greater liver weight. These data suggested that the percentage of CLA in dietary fat might be a determinant of CLA-mediated lipodystrophy.