Effect of Red Palm Oil and Refined Palm Olein on Nutrient Digestion in the Rat

Abstract

A nutritional evaluation was carried out to determine the effects of red palm oil and refined palm olein on digestion of nutrients in animals. Four-week-old Wistar albino rats (n = 8 per group) were maintained for 28 days on standard dry rat food supplemented (10, 20 and 30% by weight) with red palm oil (RPO) and refined palm olein (REFPO). The digestion of nutrients (measured from the differences between nutrient intake and fecal nutrient) by rats fed 10% oil-supplemented diets was comparable to that of the control (p>0.01). There were inverse dose-effect relationships between the level of dietary fat and digestion of protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, manganese and copper. In comparison with other experimental groups, animals fed 30% oil diets exhibited the lowest digestion of proximate nutrients (p<0.01) and minerals (p<0.001) in addition to exhibiting the poorest feed utilization (p<0.01). In general, no significant variations were observed (among the parameters measured) between RPO-fed and REFPO-fed rats, for each level of test dietary fat (p>0.01). The above findings suggest that consumption of palm in moderate amounts may impact growth and development through effects on nutrient retention.