Nutritional studies of polyglycerol esters

Abstract

Palatable polyglycerol esters of various mol wt were prepared with fatty acids from cottonseed and peanut oils. The wt gains of weanling male rats fed 1 g/day polyglycerol esters in 5 g of a basic diet were compared with those of matching rats fed 1 g, 0.5 g, and no lard in 5 g basic diet. After three weeks, all rats were given free access to diets containing 8% polyglycerol esters or lard. The polyglycerol esters were utilized as well as lard for wt gain. Intestinal absorption of the fatty acids from the polyglycerol esters was the same as with lard. Autopsies and histological examination of the tissues revealed no abnormalities attributable to the consumption of these materials. Appearance of the animals was normal throughout the experiment. The epididymal fat of the animals was similar regardless of the polyglycerol structure fed. No polyglycerols were detected in the body fat. From these results, it is concluded that the polyglycerol esters of both low and high mol wt were nutritionally similar to naturally occurring fats and that they were nontoxic.