LEXINGTON, Ky.—Some dietary fats, specifically long-chain fats such as oleic acid, are more prone to induce inflammation. Researchers at the University of Kentucky reveal that long-chain fats promote increased intestinal absorption of pro-inflammatory bacterial molecules called lipopolysaccharides (LPS). The study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Lipid Research.
While dietary fats that have short chains can be absorbed directly into the bloodstream from the intestines, long-chain fats need to be first packaged by the intestinal cells into particles known as chylomicrons (large complexes similar to HDL and LDL particles).
Erik Eckhardt and colleagues studied whether some unwanted LPS particles, routinely shed by the bacteria that inhabit the human gut, might also be sneaking in the chylomicrons. They treated cultured human intestinal cells with oleic acid and observed significant secretion of LPS together with the chylomicron particles, a phenomenon that was not observed when the cells were treated with short-chain butyric acid.
Similar findings were found in mouse studies; high amounts of dietary oleic acid, but not butyric acid, promoted significant absorption of LPS into the blood and lymph nodes and subsequent expression of inflammatory genes.
Researchers believe these findings may pave the way for future therapies for Crohn's disease and other inflammatory bowel disorders.
