Feeding medium-chain fatty acid-rich formula causes liver steatosis and alters hepatic metabolism in neonatal pigs

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) and long-chain fatty acids (LCFAs) are often added to enhance the caloric value of infant formulas. Evidence suggests that MCFAs promote growth and are preferred over LCFAs due to greater digestibility and ease of absorption. Our hypothesis was that MCFA supplementation would enhance neonatal pig growth to a greater extent than LCFAs. Neonatal pigs (n = 4) were fed a low-energy control (CONT) or two isocaloric high-energy formulas containing fat either from LCFAs, or MCFAs for 20 days. Pigs fed the LCFAs had greater body weight compared with CONT- and MCFA-fed pigs (P < 0.05). In addition, pigs fed the LCFAs and MCFAs had more body fat than those in the CONT group. Liver and kid-ney weights as a percentage of body weight were greater (P < 0.05) for pigs fed the MCFAs than those fed the CONT formula, and in those fed LCFAs, liver and kidney weights as a percentage of body weight were intermediate (P < 0.05). Pigs in the CONT and LCFA groups had less liver fat (12%) compared with those in the MCFA (26%) group (P < 0.05). Isolated hepatocytes from these pigs were incubated in media containing [C-13]tracers of alanine, glucose, glutamate, and propionate. Our data suggest alanine contribution to pyruvate is less in hepatocytes from LCFA and MCFA pigs than those in the CONT group (P < 0.05). These data suggest that a formula rich in MCFAs caused steatosis compared with an isocaloric LCFA formula. In addition, MCFA feeding can alter hepatocyte metabolism and increase total body fat without increasing lean deposition. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Our data suggest that feeding high-energy MCFA formula resulted in hepatic steatosis compared with isoenergetic LCFA or low-energy formulas. Steatosis coincided with greater laurate, myristate, and palmitate accumulation, suggesting elongation of dietary laurate. Data also suggest that hepatocytes metabolized alanine and glucose to pyruvate, but neither entered the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. In addition, the contribution of alanine and glucose was greater for the low-energy formulas compared with the high-energy formulas.

Automated summary

This study aimed to compare the effects of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA) on neonatal pig growth. The results showed that MCFA promoted growth and caused hepatic steatosis, while LCFA had a lesser effect on growth.