Multicountry Studies on the Effect of Positional Distribution of Fatty Acids at Triglyceride Backbone on Serum Lipids, Lipoprotein(a) and LDL-subclasses in Healthy Malaysian Volunteers

Fats and oils are made up of >90% triacylglycerol fat molecules which consist of a glycerol backbone to which 3 esterified fatty acids are attached. The positions of fatty acid attachment are referred to by stereospecific numbers, sn -1, -2 and -3. There is existing evidence to show that vegetable oils having unsaturated fatty acids in the sn-2 position with predominantly palmitic acid (16:0) or stearic acid (18:0) in the sn-1 and sn-3 positions of fat molecules do not raise serum cholesterol levels. These observations have come to be known as or explained by the "sn-2 hypothesis". New evidence have also emerged to show that saturated fatty acids (16:0, 18:0) in the sn-1 and -3 positions reduces fat deposition in a rat model. In this proposed study, the effects on the outcome measures investigated of three test fats [namely palm olein IV64 (POP), virgin olive oil (OOO) and cocoa butter (POS)], with oleic acid primarily at the sn-2 position but differing amounts of palmitic, stearic and oleic acids at the sn-1/sn-3 positions of the triglyceride molecule, are investigated