We carried out energy balance studies in four groups of young, growing, 5-wk-old Balb-C mice (n = 12/group) that were either food restricted or nonrestricted and fed high fat diets (38 energy%) with or without 0.93 g/100 g conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) for 39 d. The energy in carcasses, excreta and food was measured in a bomb calorimeter. CLA lowered the percentage of the energy intake that was stored in the body from 1.9 +/- 0.8 to -2.3 +/- 0.7% (mean +/- SD, P < 0.05) in the nonrestricted mice and from 1.4 +/- 1.3 to -2.9 +/- 0.7% (P < 0.05) in the restricted mice. Thus, the CLA-treated mice had a net loss of body energy. The percentage of the energy intake eliminated in the excreta increased from 7.6 +/- 0.9% in controls to 8.7 +/- 1.0% (P < 0.05) in the CLA-treated mice that were nonrestricted and from 7.3 +/- 0.8 to 8.4 +/- 0.6 (P < 0.05) in the restricted mice. The amount of energy ingested minus the amount retained in carcasses and excreta equals the energy expenditure. The percentage of the energy intake that was expended as heat increased from 90.5 +/- 1.2 in controls to 93.6 +/- 1.5% (P < 0.05) in the CLA-treated nonrestricted mice and from 91.3 +/- 1.5 to 94.5 +/- 1.0% (P < 0.05) in the restricted mice. The lower energy storage in the CLA-fed mice was accounted for by an increase in the energy expenditure (74%) and by an increase in energy lost in the excreta (26%). Feeding CLA also increased liver weight, which may warrant further studies on the safety of CLA.

Studies in mice have indicated that feeding diets containing 0.5-1% conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) considerably reduces body fat. These findings have attracted much interest because of the potential use of CLA as a tool to promote weight loss in humans. Several CLA studies in humans have now been published, and the objective of the present review was to give an overview of these experiments. Most of the studies were done in free-living subjects and were not strictly controlled for nutrient and energy intakes. None of the studies found a significant reduction in body weight, and only 2 studies showed a significant but relatively small body fat-lowering effect. Some studies suggested that CLA may have a tendency to increase lean body mass. Furthermore, there are indications from animal studies that CLA may have effects on plasma lipids. However, only one study in humans showed a significant HDL-cholesterol-lowering effect of CLA; in all the other studies, there were no significant effects on plasma total, LDL-, and HDL-cholesterol concentrations or on plasma triacylglycerol concentrations. Thus, the results of the studies in humans indicate that the effect of CLA on body fat is considerably less than that anticipated from mice studies and that CLA has no major effect on plasma lipids.

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A diet rich in fish oil results in proarrhythmia compared to a control diet during regional ischemia in pigs. Myocardial excitability is reduced in the fish oil and sunflower oil group during the early phase of arrhythmogenesis. In the late phase of arrhythmogenesis, excitability is more reduced in the control group than in the fish oil and sunflower oil group.