Dietary Saturated Medium-Chain Triglycerides and Vitamin E Deficiency in Chicks and Rats. ∗

Abstract

Summary

Saturated medium-chain triglycerides (C_6-12; MCT) were included in vitamin E-deficient diets fed to chickens and rats. This produced a high incidence of exudative diathesis in the birds but exerted a protective effect on testicular degeneration in the rats. It is speculated that this difference is related to the capacity of dietary MCT to decrease linoleate turnover in the rat but to increase it in the chicken, leading to opposite effects in the affected organs of the two deficient species.