Gunhild Kofoed Hølmer

Coenzyme Q10 in health and disease

The literature concerning the importance of coenzyme Q10 in health and disease has been reviewed. Usual dietary intake together with normal in vivo synthesis seems to fulfil the demands for Q10 in healthy individuals. The importance of Q10 supplementation for general health has not been investigated in controlled experiments. The literature allows no firm conclusions about the significance of Q10 in physical activity. In different cardiovascular diseases, including cardiomyopathy, relatively low levels of Q10 in myocardial tissue have been reported. Positive clinical and haemodynamic effects of oral Q10 supplementation have been observed in double-blind trials, especially in chronic heart failure. These effects should be further examined. No important adverse effects have been reported from experiments using daily supplements of up to 200u2005mg Q10 for 6–12 months and 100u2005mg daily for up to 6u2005y.

Effect of modified dairy fat on fasting and postprandial haemostatic variables in healthy young men.

It has been suggested that milk fat, due to its content of saturated fatty acids, may have a thrombogenic effect. In the present study the fatty acid profile of milk fat was modified by changing the feeding regimens of cows and the effect on haemostatic variables of a diet containing the modified milk fat (M) was compared with that of a diet containing milk fat of typical Danish composition (D). In the modified fat 16% of the saturated fatty acid (C12-C16) content was replaced mainly by oleic acid. Eighteen subjects were fed on two strictly controlled isoenergetic diets containing 40% energy from total fat (30% energy from the test fats) for periods of 4 weeks in a study with a crossover design. Fasting samples were taken in the last week of each study period. Postprandial samples were taken on day 21, 3 h after lunch (n 18), and on the last day of the study 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after a fat load containing 1.2 g of one of the milk fats/kg body weight (n 8). After 4 weeks dietary intervention fasting plasma factor VII coagulant (FVIIc) activity, tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity, plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI-1) antigen and beta-thromboglobulin did not differ between diets M and D. Postprandially FVIIc and t-PA activities increased (P < 0.001) and PAI-1 antigen and PAI-1 activity decreased (P < 0.001) as compared with fasting values, regardless of diet. After the fat load, the postprandial increase in FVIIc was marginally lower after diet M than diet D (diet effect, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the modified milk fat obtained by the applied feeding strategy had virtually the same effects on haemostatic variables as conventional milk fat.

The effect of palm oil, lard, and puff-pastry margarine on postprandial lipid and hormone responses in normal-weight and obese young women

Only a few studies have been published on the postprandial effects of different fatty acids in obese subjects. Therefore, the present study investigated the effects of three test meals containing palm oil (PO), lard (LD), or puff-pastry margarine (PPM), all normal dietary ingredients, on postprandial lipid and hormone responses in normal-weight and obese young women. The study was performed as a randomized, crossover design. The fats differed in the content of palmitic acid, stearic acid, and trans monounsaturated fatty acids allowing a dietary comparison of different solid fatty acids. The obese women had significantly higher fasting concentrations and postprandial responses of plasma total triacylglycerol (TAG), chylomicron-TAG, and insulin compared with the normal-weight women but there was no significant difference in the postprandial responses between the three test meals. The obese women had fasting concentrations of leptin four times greater than the normal-weight women. There were no postprandial changes in the concentrations of leptin. The fasting concentrations of HDL-cholesterol were significantly lower in the obese women than in the normal-weight women, whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups in the concentrations of total cholesterol or LDL-cholesterol. These results provide evidence that obese women have exaggerated lipid and hormone responses compared with normal-weight women but the different contents of saturated and trans monounsaturated fatty acids provided by PO, LD, and PPM have no effect in either group.

Effects of butter oil blends with increased concentrations of stearic, oleic and linolenic acid on blood lipids in young adults

Objective: The aim of this present project was to evaluate a more satisfactory effect on plasma lipoprotein profile of spreads based on dairy fat.Design: This study was designed as a randomised cross-over experiment with a three-week treatment separated by a three-week wash-out period. Sixty five grams of the fat content of the habitual diets was replaced by either butter/grapeseed oil (90:10) (BG); butter oil and low erucic rapeseed oil (65:35) (BR) or butter blended in a 1:1 ratio with a interesterified mixture of rapeseed oil and fully hydrogenated rapeseed oil (70:30) (BS).Subjects: Thirteen healthy free-living young men (age 21–26u2005y) fulfilled the study.Interventions: At the beginning and end of each diet period two venous blood samples were collected. Triacylglycerol and cholesterol concentrations in total plasma and VLDL, LDL, IDL and HDL fractions were measured, as were apo A-1 and apo B concentrations. Fatty acid composition of plasma phospholipids, plasma cholesterol ester and platelets was also determined.Results: Significantly (P<0.05) lower total and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were observed after the BR and BS period, compared to BG. The effect of BR and BS did not differ. BG and BR resulted in equal concentrations of HDL-C, but significantly higher than BS. Consequently, a significantly lower LDL-C/HDL-C ratio was seen after the BR treatment compared to BG and BS. Apo A-1 concentrations were not significantly different, but Apo B was significantly increased after BG.Conclusions: Partially replacing milk fat with rapeseed oil seems to yield a more healthy spread. Stearic acid had a HDL-C lowering effect compared to milk fat, but did not affect LDL-C significantly. The addition of stearic acid did not improve the plasma lipoprotein profile for young men with low cholesterol levels.Sponsorship: Danish Food Research Programme (FØTEK I) and Danish Dairy Research Foundation.

An optimized method for fatty acid analysis, including quantification of trans fatty acids, in human adipose tissue by gas-liquid chromatography.

Considering the need for a quick direct method for measurement of the fatty acid composition including trans isomers of human adipose tissue we have developed a procedure using gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) alone, which is thus suitable for validation of fatty acid status in epidemiological studies. Fatty acids ranging in carbon number from 12 to 22 and with 0-6 double bonds were resolved and identified by capillary column GLC with a temperature program starting at 150 degrees C. Following injection, the oven temperature was increased at a rate of 3 degrees C/min to 200 degrees C, then held constant for 25 min, and finally raised at 25 degrees C/min to 225 degrees C. The trans and cis isomers of 18:1 were well separated from each other, as shown by silver-ion thin-layer chromatography. Verification by standards showed that the trans 18:1 isomers with a double bond in position 12 or lower were separated from the cis 18:1 isomers with a double bond in position 6 or higher. As the adipose tissue samples contained only small amounts of the 13t-, 14t- and 15t-18:1 isomers and the 4c- and 5c-18:1 isomers the overlapping was found to be minimal. The GLC method may also be valuable for determining the fatty acid profiles including total trans in other tissues.

Polyenoic fatty acids and cholesterol in blood, heart and liver of chicks fed on hydrogenated and unhydrogenated arachis oil.

Several investigations have been made into the polyunsaturated fatty acids of various chick tissues (Dam, Kristensen, Nielsen, Prange & Ssndergaard, 1956; Dam & Nielsen, 1956; Dam, Jart, Kristensen, Nielsen & Ssndergaard, 1958) and blood plasma (Bieri, Pollard & Briggs, 1957), but, as far as we are aware, only a few studies of the corresponding values for blood cells have been reported in the literature. Chevallier, Manuel, Burg & Rouillard (1950) and Chevallier, Manuel & Rouillard (1951) examined human serum and erythrocytes and found that serum contained more dienoic than tetraenoic acids and only small amounts of trienoic acids, whereas erythrocytes contained more tetraenoic than dienoic acids. Similar results were obtained by Evans, Waldron, Oleksyshyn & Riemenschneider (1956), who studied blood plasma and erythrocytes from young male students and determined polyenes by the isomerization technique. Further, James, Lovelock & Webb (1957) reported an in vitro synthesis of linoleic and arachidonic acids from *C-labelled acetate in human plasma and erythrocytes. In a later publication (James, Lovelock & Webb, 1959) these authors considered exchange of carbon units at the carboxyl end as an explanation of their findings. Our studies were planned partly to examine whether the distribution of polyenoic acids in blood from chicks fed on diets without fat, with 10% hydrogenated arachis oil or with 10% unhydrogenated arachis oil, with or without I yo cholesterol was as described above for human blood, and partly to obtain an indication of whether a possible in vivo synthesis might be reflected in the contents of diand tetra-enoic acids. In connexion with these experiments, polyenoic acids were also determined in heart and liver and cholesterol in plasma, heart and liver. The effects of a fasting period of about 20 h before death were also studied.

Polyenoic fatty acids and cholesterol in chicks given 9- cis -12- cis linoleate, 9- trans -12- trans linoleate or 9- trans -11- trans linoleate

We have previously studied the influence of dietary hydrogenated arachis oil on the deposition of polyenoic fatty acids and cholesterol in various tissues of chicks (Dam, Jart, Kristensen, Nielsen & Smdergaard, 1958) and found mainly the same pattern of polyenoic fatty acids as with a fat-free diet. However, the content of nonconjugated trienoic acid in liver and heart was somewhat lower than in the fat-free groups. The cholesterol contents of the organs examined were not influenced by dietary hydrogenated arachis oil when the diet was free from cholesterol. I n the experiments reported here, which were carried out in connexion with some studies on vitamin E deficiency, we fed chicks on a ‘low-fat’ diet containing 1-5 % 9-cis-1z-cis ethyl linoleate, 1.5 % 9-trans-I I-trans ethyl linoleate, 1-5 % 9-trans-IZtrans ethyl linoleate, respectively, and the low-fat diet itself in order to study the fate of these acids in the tissues and their influence on cholesterol metabolism. The designation ‘low-fat ’ was chosen instead of ‘ fat-free’ because one of the ingredients, Fleischmann yeast SOB, contained 3.8 yo total fatty acids.