Diets containing n-3 fatty acids-enriched pork: effect on blood lipids, oxidative status and atherosclerosis in rabbits.

Animal products enriched with n-3 fatty acids (FA) are receiving increasing interest because of the health benefits attributed to these FA. However, responses to the intake of enriched products with different n-3 fatty acid sources have not been properly assessed. Rabbits were fed a pelleted diet simulating a meat-based adult human diet. The meat fatty acid profile was steered by feeding pigs a diet with linseed or fish oil. Significant changes in the fatty acid profile of different tissues and blood were found in the rabbits. During the experiment, the total cholesterol (TC)/high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (HDL-C) ratio decreased and the TC/low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (LDL-C) ratio increased in the fish oil pork group, while for the linseed oil pork group the TC/HDL-C ratio increased and no effect was measured for the TC/LDL-C ratio. The oxidative status was altered by the dietary treatments compared with the baseline and atherosclerosis developed during the experiment, but no differences between the two feeding groups were found.