Effects of dietary trans-fat on biliary and fecal steroid excretion and serum lipoproteins in rats.

Rats were fed cholesterol-free or cholesterol-enriched diets containing olive oil or partially hydrogenated corn oil at the 10% level for ca. 30 days (c-18:1, 77.0% in the former diet and c-18:1,24.7% and t-18:1,42.5% in the latter). The linoleic acid content of these fat diets was made equivalent (1.7 energy %). After feeding cholesterol-free diets, trans fat compared to cis fat showed (a) no untoward effects on growth parameters, (b) a reduction of serum cholesterol levels without influencing concentrations of serum apolipoproteins A-1, B and E, (c) no effects on the bile flow and the concentration of biliary cholesterol and bile acids, (d) an increasing trend of fecal excretion of neutral and acidic steroids, both in terms of mg/day and mg/g feces, and (e) rather equivocal change in the composition of fecal, but not biliary steroids. Similar response patterns were also observed when cholesterol-enriched diets were fed except for a decrease in serum apo B and an ineffectiveness to increase fecal acidic steroids. Together with the results obtained from experiments simultaneously performed with safflower oil and completely hydrogenated corn oil, it seems that the steroid metabolism can be specifically modified by the geometry of dietary fats.