The Effect Of Dietary Fats On Thrombotic Metabolites In Human Plasma

Abstract

The type and amount of a person's dietary fatty acids have been shown to affect the tendency towards thrombogenesis. Diets which are high in polyunsaturated fats tend to reduce the risk of thrombogenesis, and long-chain saturated fats tend to enhance the risk (7,8). An exception to this rule seems to be the tropical oil palm oil, the second largest selling vegetable oil in the world market (9). It contains 50% saturated fatty acids (primarily palmitic acid), 40% oleic acid, and 10% linoleic acid (3) and shows an uncharacteristic antithrombotic effect despite its high content of saturated fat. It has been speculated that the reason for this is the presence of unusual triglyceride species in palm oil and possibly also the composition of its nontriglyceride fraction. Palm oil has some triglyceride species that are completely saturated, whereas most natural triglycerides have a saturated fatty acid in their 1- and/or 3-positions with a polyunsaturated fatty acid in the 2-position (9). The aim of this study was to determine the effects that specific dietary fats have on the concentrations of thromboxane B₂ and 6-keto-prostaglandin F₁ₐ in human plasma. Thromboxane B₂ is a stable intermediate of thromboxane A₂ which has a short half-life (30 sec). It will be measured in conjunction with 6-keto-prostaglandin F₁ₐ, a degradation product of PGI₂ (10), to give the effect of the diets on these protagonistic metabolites.