Reduction of essential fatty acid deficiency in rats fed a low iron fat free diet

Young male rats were fed ad libitum for 8 weeks a low iron fat‐free (FF‐Fe) diet or a fat‐free diet supplemented with iron (FF+Fe). The relative levels of 16∶1 to 16∶0 and 18∶1 to 18∶0 in the total fatty acids of liver and other tissues (plasma, erythrocytes and intestinal mucosa) were considerably decreased because of a lack of dietary iron. In rats fed the FF‐Fe diet, the levels of essential fatty acids (18∶2ω6+20∶4ω6) in tissues were 2‐to 3‐fold greater than in the corresponding tissues of rats fed the FF+Fe diet. Eicosatrienoic acid (20∶3ω9) levels in tissue lipids from rats fed the FF+Fe diet were high (8–16%), whereas they were low (2–5%) in the case of animals fed the FF‐Fe diet. The proportion of 20∶4 in total fatty acids of tissues was 2‐to 3‐fold greater in rats fed the FF‐Fe diet than when they were fed the FF+Fe diet. Therefore, the relative levels of 20∶3ω9/20∶4ω6 varied from 1‐2.9 in tissue lipids of rats fed the FF+Fe diet, while it varied only from 0.2–0.3 in animals fed the FF‐Fe diet. These results suggest that a lack of dietary iron may reduce the synthesis of 16∶1, 18∶1, 20∶3 and 20∶4 and the metabolism of 20∶4.