Short-term Toxicological Evaluation of Monodora myristica Seed Oil

Abstract

A short-term preliminary toxicological evaluation of Monodora myristica seed oil was carried out in order to determine the suitability of the oil for nutritional purposes. The total unsaturated fatty acids found in M. myristica seed oil was 79.93% while the total saturated fatty acid was 20.07% with oleic and linoleic acid making up the major portion of the unsaturated fatty acids; both accounted for 68.67% of the total fatty acids in the oil. The effects of the oil on physical appearance, feed intake, weight gain, plasma and tissue cholesterol and triacyglycerol levels in rats were determined. There seemed to be no toxicological effects on weanling albino rats when fed with 5% M. myristica seed oil in their diet for 8 weeks. Weekly monitoring of the rats showed good physical appearance and steady weight gain, with no mortality recorded for the study period of eight weeks. Haematological analysis of the test rats showed that the rats were not anaemic. M. myristica seed oil is a promising edible oil.