Influence of maternal dietary gamma-linolenic acid on the milk and liver lipids of suckling rats.

In lactating rats, the dietary essential fatty acids influence the composition of the milk. Feeding gamma-linolenic acid increased not only the level of this acid but also that of the 20 and 22 carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids derived from it, both in the milk and the liver triglyceride lipids of the suckling pups. Maternal nutrition, therefore, would play an important role in providing these long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids during the active phase of growth in the rat.