Dietary Arachidonic Acid and Docosahexaenoic Acid Elevate Femur Calcium and Reduce Zinc Content in Piglets

Abstract

Specific dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and long chain PUFAs (LCPUFAs) elevate femur calcium content and enhance calcium balance. Mother's milk is associated with enhanced calcium balance and contains LCPUFAs; arachidonic acid (AA), and docosahexanoic acid (DHA). However, the effect of AA and DHA on calcium metabolism and other bone minerals during infancy is unknown. Thus, piglets received one of four formulas (15 d): control or with AA:DHA (0.5:0.1 g, 1.0:0.2 g, or 2.0:0.4 g/ 100 g of fat). Calcium absorption, femur mineral composition, and urinary mineral excretion. Main effects identified using two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc analysis conducted using Duncan's multiple range test. Significant effects of diet were observed in femur calcium and zinc content, but not calcium absorption, urinary mineral excretion, femur ash weight, femur phosphorus, or femur magnesium content. The piglets receiving AA:DHA as 1.0:0.2 g/100 g of fat had 1.9% higher mg calcium/g of ash, but 8.6% lower g zinc/g of ash compared with control. Thus, AA:DHA in a ratio of 5:1 does not affect mineral accretion, but AA plus DHA, in amounts similar to the upper limit of human milk, might be detrimental to bone mineralization over time due to lower zinc.

New human milk fat substitutes from butterfat to improve fat absorption

“…Even though it is well accepted that essential fatty acids and LCPUFA are important for infant growth and the bone health, diverse results have been observed. For instance, addition of AA and DHA to formula resulted in significantly higher weight and greater bone mineral density (Weiler, 2000) and elevated femur calcium in piglets (Mollard & Weiler, 2006). Supplementation of fish oil reduced faecal calcium and urine calcium excretion and consequently improved calcium absorption, since increased unsaturation of the intestinal membrane lipids may facilitate calcium absorption (Kruger, Coetzer, De Winter, & Claassen, 1995;Kruger & Schollum, 2005).…”

Zinc and Fatty Acids in Depression

“…Antidepressant medication was reported to have a beneficial effect on the differentiation of osteoclasts [26]. On the other hand, AA and DHA enriched diets, given in a special ratio, reduced Zn content in piglets' femur [27]. There seems to be a complex relationship between bone metabolism, Zn and FA; and an increased need of Zn of depressed patients is, perhaps, caused by altered interactions between FA and Zn.…”

Biochemical and white blood cell profiles of baboon neonates consuming formulas with moderate and high dietary long‐chain polyunsaturated fatty acids

“…Changes in blood calcium levels may reflect alterations in bone metabolism. Dietary DHA has been shown to elevate bone calcium and lower serum levels in animal models [19, 23]. While moderate formula DHA increased calcium levels from C to L group, additional DHA lowered L3 calcium levels similar to controls.…”