Lowering Triglyceride and Increasing HDLCholesterol Levels in Rat Serum When Feeding Alphalinolenic

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Lowering Triglyceride and Increasing
HDL-Cholesterol Levels in Rat Serum When Feeding
Alpha-linolenic Fatty Acid derived from Chia Seeds

• R. Ayerza (h) W. Coates

Office of Arid Lands Studies The University of
Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85706, USA
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Main Characteristics of Four Sources of Omega-3
Fatty Acids
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Chia The Lost Crop of the Aztecs

• Aztec civilization four main crops
• corn, beans, chia, amaranth.
• Tributes to Tenochtitlan
• 5 15,000 tons of chia per year
• Food beverage- used in pagan religion
• 500 years of obscurity
• Today modern science supports use of Aztec chia

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Codices

• A Codex is a book named by the Spanish and
  written shortly after the conquest
• A number of them have survived
• Two of the most notable are
• Codex Mendoza 1541-42
• Codex Florentino 1579

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From the Codex Mendoza
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Awakening of a Sleeping Crop

• Northwestern Argentina Regional Project
• started in 1991
• goal to help diversify agricultural production
• involved farmers, U of Arizona, other
  organizations in the US and Argentina
• principle source of funding was Partners of the
  Americas through the 1990 Farm Bill

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Chia Production
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Chia Seed Nutrition Facts
Limit these
Get enough of these
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Chia Seed Nutrition Facts
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Common Oils - Composition (Adapted from Ayerza
and Coates, 2005)
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Modified foods - eggs
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Modified foods - chicken
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But what about direct consumption of chia what
will be its effect on plasma when fed to
rats? This is topic of this presentation
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Body Weight and Feed Intake of Rats1 (Ayerza and
Coates, 2005)
1 Values (means of 8 rats per group) in rows with
different superscrips are significant (Plt0.05).
LSD indicates least significant difference for
mean separation. 100 x liver weight/body
weight T1 control T2 chia seed 15 T3
chia oil 15
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Initial and Final Body Weight, and Feed
Intake1 Ayerza and Coates, 2007
1 Values are means of six rats in each group. 2
Means with different superscripts in the same row
are significantly different from each other
(Plt0.05). 3 100 liver weight/body weight. 4
body weight gain/feed intake. 5 Critical range
for mean separation in Duncan's multiple range
test. T1 control T2 whole chia seed 16 T3
ground chia seed 16 T4 chia oil 5.34
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Serum CHO, LSD, HDL, and TG Levels in
Rats1 Ayerza and Coates, 2005
1Values (means of 6 rats per group) in rows with
different superscripts are significantly
different from each other (Plt .05). T1 control
T2 chia seed 15 T3 chia oil 15
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Serum CHO, LDL, HDL, and TG Contents1 Ayerza
and Coates, 2007
1Values are means of six rats in each group. 2
Means with different superscripts in the same row
are significantly different from each other
(Plt0.05). 3 Critical range for mean separation
in Duncan's multiple range test. T1 control T2
whole chia seed 16 T3 ground chia seed 16
T4 chia oil 5.34
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Serum Fatty Acid Composition (area ) of
Rats1 (Ayerza and Coates, 2005)
1Values (means of 6 rats per group) in rows with
different superscript letters are significant (Plt
.05). AA indicates arachidonic acid SFA,
saturated fatty acid MUFA, monounsaturated fatty
acid PAL, palmiitic acid. T1 control T2
chia seed 15 T3 chia oil 15
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Serum Fatty Acid Composition1 (Ayerza and Coates,
2007)
1 Values are means of six rats in each group. 2
Means with a different superscripts in the same
row are significantly different from each other
(Plt0.05). 3 Critical range for mean separation
in Duncan's multiple range test. T1 control T2
whole chia seed 16 T3 ground chia seed 16
T4 chia oil 5.34
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Conclusions
These results show that adding chia seed or chia
oil to rat diets improves the serum lipid profile
without negatively affecting rat growth. Rats
fed chia had increased omega-3 PUFA plasma
content. This means the profile is more in line
with that which is being recommended to reduce
the risk of suffering CHD. The results also
suggest that chia lipids are an alternative to
fish lipids for non-fish eating consumers, such
as vegetarians and people with fish allergies, as
a source of omega-3 fatty acids.