Consumption of medium- and long-chain triacylglycerols decreases body fat and blood triglyceride in Chinese hypertriglyceridemic subjects

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the effects of medium-and long-chain triacylglycerol (MLCT) on blood triglyceride (TG) in Chinese hypertriglyceridemic subjects. Methods: A double-blind controlled clinical trial was carried out, in which 112 subjects with hypertriglyceridemia were randomly divided into two dietary oil groups: (1) long-chain triacylglycerol (LCT) and (2) MLCT. All subjects were requested to ingest fixed energy and to continue their normal activity levels, and to consume LCT or MLCT oil at 25-30 g daily during the study period. Anthropometric measurements of body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat, body fat percentage, waist and hip circumference (WC and HC), areas of subcutaneous and visceral fat by computed tomography scanning and blood biochemical markers were measured at the beginning and end of the study. Results: There were 50 and 51 subjects left in LCT and MLCT groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in daily intake of energy, protein, fat and carbohydrate, as well as the daily physical activity between the two groups during the study. After 8 weeks, MLCT group showed a significant decrease in body weight, BMI, WC, HC, ratio of WC and HC, body fat, body fat percentage and subcutaneous fat when compared with the initial values. The decrease in body weight, BMI, WC, body fat and subcutaneous and visceral fat was significantly greater in MLCT group than that in the LCT group. Furthermore, the serum concentrations of TG in MLCT group were significantly lower than those in the LCT group. Conclusions: Consumption of MLCT may reduce body weight, body fat and blood TG in hypertriglyceridemic subjects under an appropriate dietary regime.

Triglyceride with Medium-Chain Fatty Acids Increases the Activity and Expression of Hormone-Sensitive Lipase in White Adipose Tissue of C57BL/6J Mice

“…Our results also show that MCT reduced the serum concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol, LDL-C and FFA. These results are in accordance with those of our previous clinical trial, 6,[9][10][11] although some studies have considered that the lipid metabolism of mice was no different from that of humans in certain respects. 25) The main explanations for the effect of MCT on reducing body fat accumulation are based on some results that MCT increased the energy expenditure in the body and accelerated fatty acid oxidation in the liver or WAT of rats.…”

“…5) Many investigations during the past few years have reported that the intake of MCFA or MCT resulted in less body weight gain and body fat mass in animals and humans. [6][7][8][9] Our previous studies on humans have suggested that dietary oil containing MCFA could reduce in hypertriglyceridemic subjects the body weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat mass, waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC) and waist-hip ratio when compared to oil containing LCFA, and that these effects were much better in subjects who were male, overweight and less than 60 years old. 6,10,11) MCT has been considered to have potential for preventing and treating obesity, although the mechanism was not fully understood.…”

Chinese Hypertriglycerideamic Subjects of Different Ages Responded Differently to Consuming Oil with Medium- and Long-Chain Fatty Acids

“…14,[17][18][19][20] Moreover, apolipoprotein profiles in the blood were also improved greatly in Chinese hypertriglycerideamic subjects. 22) In the present study, we found that MLCT lowered body weight and body fat weight only in the hypertriglycerideamic subjects of age less than 60 years, not in those more than 60 years. Although older subjects enrolled and some of the subjects dropped out, the body compositions of the younger subjects in the MLCT group were significantly different from the initial values, but this was not significant in the older subjects at the end of the study.…”

“…8,21) We have reported that MLCT reduced blood TG in Chinese hypertriglycerideamic subjects. 22) These different results might be attributed to the different subjects chosen. The ages of the subjects might be an important factor.…”

Role of bioactive lipid mediators in obese adipose tissue inflammation and endocrine dysfunction

“…Among these, butyric acid is the best known for its biological functions. Butyric acid is a substrate for growth and regeneration of cells in the large intestine; it has anti-cancer properties in colon cancer, probably enhancing apoptosis of tumoral cells, and more importantly for the purpose of this review, it increases thermogenesis, energy expenditure and contributes to the reduction of body weight and other factors present in the metabolic syndrome (Goncalves and Martel, 2013;Liu et al, 2011;Xue et al, 2009). …”