XUTKITIOXAL VALUE OF MODIFIED FATS AND OILS 925 



duetioii, or lactation performance between rats fed mono- or triglycerides 

 prepared from cottonseed oil and those fed the refined cottonseed oil. The 

 monoglycerides used in these tests were separated by molecular distillation. 

 Mattson and co-workers^*-^ im-estigated the mono-, di-, and triglycerides 

 isolated from soybean oil and from coconut oil, as well as purified mono- 

 and triglycerides of oleic, stearic, and lauric acids. It was concluded that 

 the mono-, di-, and triglycerides of corresponding fatty acid composition 

 are calorically equivalent. The caloric efficiencies of the mono- and tri- 

 glycerides of both stearic and lauric acids were found to be low, but this 

 was attributed entirely or partially to poor absorption. In later investiga- 

 tions, Mattson and associates'*^ isolated both monoglycerides and diglycer- 

 ides from the lumen of the intestine of rats, following the feeding of tri- 

 glycerides; these constituted 16% and 36%, respectively, of the total lipids 

 separated. This fact supports the work of Frazer and Sammons.'^^ The 

 Food Protection Committee of the National Research CounciP^^ concluded 

 that purified monoglycerides, as well as mixtures of mono- and diglycerides 

 ("superglycerinated edible fats"), present no significant differences in nutri- 

 tive value from that of the triglycerides. Such criteria are based upon meas- 

 urements of the rate of increase of body weight, food consumption data, 

 reproduction through several generations, lactation, digestibility and 

 absorption, deposition of fatty acids in animal tissues, possible influence 

 upon absorption or metabolism of other substances, and gross and micro- 

 scopic examination of tissues for smy e\'idence of deviation from the 

 normal. '^^-'^^^ On the basis of this study the Food Protection Committee 

 of the National Research CounciP*^ concluded that the mono- and di- 

 glycerides are usual components of foods, that they are normally formed in 

 the gastrointestinal tract, that their metabolism does not differ from that 

 of the triglycerides, and that their efficiency as emulsifiers indicates that 

 "there is no eA'idence on which to ciuestion the safety of mono- and di- 

 glycerides as food additives." 



3S5 F. H. Mattson, F. J. Baur, and L. W. Beck, J. Am. Oil Chemists' Soc, 28, 380-390 

 (1951). 



3«6 F. H. Mattson, J. H. Benedict, J. B. Martin, and L. W. Beck, J. Nutrition, 48, 

 335-,344(1952). 



387 A. C. Frazer and H. G. Sammons, Biochem. J., 39, 122-128 (1945). 



^ A. D. Holmes, U. S. Dept. Agr. Bull. No. 613, 1-25 (April 25, 1919). 



5«5 G. Peretti, Boll. soc. Hal. biol. sper., 10, 873-874 (1935). 



38" J. S. Huff, R. K. Waiigh, and G. H. Wise, ./. Dairy Sri., 34, 1056-1063 (1951). 



"' A. R. Bourke, J. P. Frawlev, and O. G. Fitzhugh, Federation Proc, 11, 325 (1952). 



392 H. C. Tidwell and M. E. Xagler, Federation Proc, 11, 298-299 (1952). 



333 A. Argvrus and O. Frank, Z. Biol. [2], 41 (59) 143-164 (1912). 



