We investigated the antihypertensive effect and safety of a-linolenic acid (ALA) in human subjects. In Experiment 1, subjects with high-normal blood pressure and mild hypertension ingested bread containing 14 g of common blended oil (control oil) or ALA-enriched oil for 12 weeks. The test oil contained 2.6g/14 g of ALA. The subjects ingested strictly controlled meals during the study period. Systolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the ALA group than in the control group after ingestion of the test diet for 4, 8 and 12 weeks. Diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower in the ALA group than in the control group after ingestion of the test diet for 12 weeks. In Experiment 2, we evaluated the safety of high intake of ALA (7.8g/d), particularly its effects on oxidation in the body and blood coagulation. Normotensive, high-normotensive and mildly hypertensive subjects ate bread that contained 42 g of the control oil or the test oil for 4 weeks. No significant difference was noted in the lipid peroxide level, high-sensitive C-reactive protein level, plasma prothrombin time or activated partial thromboplastin time between the two groups. No abnormal changes were noted after test diet ingestion on blood test or urinalysis, and no adverse event considered to have been induced by the test oil was observed in Experiment 1 and 2. These results suggest that ALA have an antihypertensive effect with no adverse effect in subjects with high-normal blood pressure and mild hypertension.

Several studies in hepatocyte cell lines reported that medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) with 6–12 carbons showed different metabolic properties from long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs). However, these studies reported unclear effects of different fatty acid molecules on hepatocyte metabolism. This study is aimed to capture the metabolic kinetics of MCFA assimilation in AML12 cells treated with octanoic acid (FA 8:0), decanoic acid (FA 10:0), or lauric acid (FA12:0) [LCFA; oleic acid (FA 18:1)] via metabolic profiling and dynamic metabolome analysis with 13C-labeling. The concentrations of total ketone bodies in the media of cells treated with FA 8:0 or FA 10:0 were 3.22- or 3.69-fold higher than those obtained with FA 18:1 treatment, respectively. FA 12:0 treatment did not significantly increase ketone body levels compared to DMSO treatment (control), whereas FA 12:0 treatment increased intracellular triacylglycerol (TG) levels 15.4 times compared to the control. Metabolic profiles of FA 12:0-treated samples differed from those of the FA 8:0-treated and FA 10:0-treated samples, suggesting that metabolic assimilation of MCFAs differed significantly depending on the MCFA type. Furthermore, the dynamic metabolome analysis clearly revealed that FA 8:0 was rapidly and quantitatively oxidized to acetyl-CoA and assimilated into ketone bodies, citrate cycle intermediates, and glucogenic amino acids but not readily into TGs.

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Soybean phospholipids are known to exhibit antioxidant effects on oils and fats. However, few studies have examined their antioxidant effects in vivo. In this study, we investigated the influence of dietary soybean phospholipids on fish fillet oxidation. For 4 weeks, we fed rainbow trout diets containing 0, 1.0, or 2.5% soybean phospholipids, of which the lipid content was adjusted with soybean oil. We compared oxidation stability in fillets after the feeding period. In the fillet of fish fed the soybean phospholipidcontaining diets, the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) level following an oxidation test was significantly inhibited compared to that in the fillet of fish fed a soybean oil-containing diet. Similarly, the syntheses of malondialdehyde (MDA) and 4-hydroxyalkenals (HAE) were significantly inhibited. These results suggest that the administration of soybean phospholipids improves the storage stability of fish fillet.