Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 515–6
Using a rat model, we can assess the impact of various mixes of dietary fatty acids on the ability of a mammal to respond to a mild inflammatory immune stimulus.
Sprague–Dawley rats were fed diets matched for energy content but differing in their fatty acid composition. The animals were fed these diets from weaning, and the triacyl glycerol fatty acid profiles of animals on different diets were significantly different. At the time of challenge animals were injected in one hind leg with a small amount of bacterial lipopolysaccharide, to mimic a low-level infection that is dealt with by a single lymph node, the popliteal. The popliteal adipose depot, containing the single responding lymph node, was dissected out and analysed by immunohistochemistry. The contralateral depot, from the uninjected leg, served as a within-animal control.
Using unsupplemented rodent diet as our baseline, our data show that a diet supplemented with sunflower oil supports an immune response in the same time-frame as the control diet, whereas animals fed a diet supplemented with beef suet show a delayed response. Animals eating a cafeteria diet are in an inflammatory state even in the absence of an immune challenge.
Dietary fatty acids have a strong effect on the baseline level of immune activation, and on the ability of mammals to respond to a mild immune challenge. This assay yields robust data that can be used to inform dietary choices.
