Influence of intake of vegetable oils on the in vitro intestinal absorption of glucose in golden hamsters

: Male Hamsters (Mesocricetus aureatus) were fed standardized diets with 15% Rose hip, Sunflower, Olive or Coconut oil for four weeks, in order to determine the influence of vegetable oils with different degree of unsaturation over the intestinal absorption of glucose. The concentration of glucose in the serosal solution at 20, 40 and 60 minutes, was quantified in pieces of everted intestine of each animal, after the feeding period was over. A lower concentration of glucose was observed in the Olive group, although it was statistically significant only when compared to the Rose hip and Coconut oil group (P < 0.05). The groups fed Rose hip and Coconut showed a similar pattern, even though they are oils with extreme and opposing degree of unsaturation. We explain this by the triggering of homeostatic mechanisms in the cellular membranes of the enterocytes when faced to a nutritional stress caused by the saturated and unsaturated fatty acids of those oils. We can conclude that the in vitro intestinal absorption of glucose in golden hamster is modified by dietary lipids. The lower absorption of glucose seen in the Olive group could be caused a specific action of a fatty acid or of its degree of unsaturation.