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Three groups, each of eight adult male monkeys were maintained for a little over 1 year on diets containing 20% mustard oil, peanut oil or hydrogenated peanut fat, respectively. Animals of the mustard oil group showed sarcoplasmic vacuolation of right and left ventricular myocardium. Half the number of monkeys also exhibited a variable degree of myocardial fibrosis which involved the subepicardial zone of the right ventricular wall between the tricuspid valve and apical region. That these changes were not the manifestations of a high fat intake per se was shown by the absence of such changes in the hearts of the animals consuming similar amounts of peanut oil or hydrogenated peanut fat. The results indicated the possible hazards of consuming diets rich in mustard oil for prolonged periods, which like rapeseed oil contains high amounts of erucic acid.

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Human hearts from medico‐legal autopsies were obtained from 3 regions of India where the edible oils used are different. These 3 population groups consumed either mustard oil (Calcutta), coconut oil (Trivandrum) or peanut oil (Madras). Among the saturated fatty acids, lauric acid was found only in the myocardium of subjects from Trivandrum (3.5% of the total fatty acids [TFA]), heptadecanoic acid only in the samples from Madras (1.4% TFA) and arachidic acid only in those of Calcutta (1.9% TFA). Erucic acid was present only in the samples received from Calcutta and acted as a marker of mustard oil consumption. It had a mean concentration of 5.6% TFA. From the level of erucic acid present in the myocardial lipid, it is apparent that, at the level of intake of mustard oil prevalent in India, the risk of developing myocardial fibrosis is slight.