Effect of dietary coconut oil on lipoprotein composition of young chick (Gallus domesticus)

Contemporary Minangkabau food culture in West Sumatra, Indonesia

Diet has a strong relationship with food culture and changes in it are likely to be involved in the pathogenesis of newly emergent degenerative diseases. To obtain in-depth opinions about the food culture of Minangkabau people, focus group discussions were conducted in a Minangkabau region, represented by four villages in West Sumatra, Indonesia, from January to March 1999. The members of the discussion groups were principally women aged from 35 to 82 years old. Minangkabau culture is matriarchal and matrilineal which accounts for female gender dominants in the discussions. Rice, fish, coconut and chilli are the basic ingredients of the Minangkabau meals. Meat, especially beef and chicken, is mainly prepared for special occasions; pork is not halal and therefore not eaten by Muslim Minangkabau people; and for reasons of taste preference and availability, lamb, goat and wild game are rarely eaten. However, rendang, a popular meat dish, has been identified as one of the Minangkabau food culture characteristic dishes. Vegetables are consumed daily. Fruit is mainly seasonal, although certain kinds of fruit, such as banana, papaya and citrus, can be found all year around. Coconut has an important role in Minangkabau food culture and is the main source of dietary fat. While almost all food items consumed by the Minangkabau can be cooked with coconut milk, fried food with coconut oil is considered to be a daily basic food. Desiccated coconut is also used as a food ingredient on about a weekly basis and in snack foods almost every day. Although there have been no changes in food preparation and there is a slight difference in taste preference between the young and the old generations, there has been a dramatic shift in food preferences, which is reflected in the changing percentage of energy consumed over the past 15 years. The traditional combination of rice, fish and coconut in Minangkabau culture goes back hundreds of years, long before the emergence of the degenerative diseases of the newer economies, and is likely to offer food security and health protection to the Minangkabau for as long as the lifestyle remains traditional. Whether or not a recent increase in energy intake from fat and the quality of fat may contribute to the shift of disease pattern is fundamentally important for the Minangkabau, it seems unlikely the traditional use of coconut and its products was a health issue. Moreover, it was clear from the focus group discussions that the use of coconut encouraged the consumption of fish and vegetables.

Changes in chemical composition and physico-chemical properties of chick low- and high-density lipoproteins induced by supplementation of coconut oil to the diet

Supplementation of coconut oil to the diet for 1-2 weeks produced a significant hypercholesterolemia in 14-day-old chicks. Changes in plasma fatty acid composition correlated positively with those of diets. In this study, we have shown a different response of low- and high-density lipoprotein (LDL and HDL) fractions to dietary saturated fat (coconut oil) rich in lauric and myristic acids. Although all the components of these particles seemed to increase, the percentages of increases found in total (TC), free (FC) and esterified cholesterol (EC) were higher in LDL than in HDL. TC/phospholipid (PL) ratio, considered as an inverse index of membrane fluidity, also increased with the dietary regimen in LDL, while no significant differences were found in HDL. These results suggest that supplementation of coconut oil to the diet decreased the fluidity of LDL. The EC/triglycerides (TG) ratio was also significantly increased in LDL, corroborating the main atherogenic function of this lipoprotein fraction in response to lauric and myristic acids. We have also estimated the lipidic order parameter, S, from the steady-state fluorescence anisotropy of 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH)-labelled low- and high-density lipoproteins. In LDL, temperature dependence of S shows two different behaviour zones at about 20 degrees C. In HDL, the plot of S values versus T is linear. DPH anisotropy and S increased in both LDL and HDL from treated chicks. This increase becomes more evident as temperature rises and also with dietary treatment.