10
DIGESTIBILITY OF VARIOUS OILS AND FATS
[Vol. XXI, Part I,
(ii) It has been observed that the significance of the oils as a type in trial 1,
can be ascribed to the comparatively low digestibility of safflower oil.
Otherwise the oils used in trial 1 were homogeneous. The opposite
results in the two trials may thus be due to the inclusion of safflower
oil in trial 1.
As in the case of oils, the results of significance for vanaspatis are also different
in the two trials. It can, however, be seen from Table VIII that of the five vanaspatis
used in trial 2, four, viz. sesame vanaspati (m.p. 37.1°C.), the two cotton seed vanas-
patis(m.p's. 35.5 and 37.3°C.) and groundnut vanaspanti (m.p. 39.9°C.) are not differ-
ing among themselves while the sesame vanaspati (m.p. 39.3°C.) having the lowest
digestibility is significantly differing from the above four vanaspatis. It is thus
apparent that the significance of the various varieties of vanaspatis in trial 2 was
due to the comparatively low digestibility of sesame vanaspati (m.p. 39.3°C.).
It can further be seen that in trial 2 the sesame vanaspati with the lower m.p.,
viz. 37.1°C. is of much superior digestibility than the same base vanaspati with
the higher m.p., viz. 39.3°C. A similar result is also observed in trial 1, as is
revealed by Table V which shows that of the two groundnut vanaspatis the one with
the lower m.p., 34.1°C., is of higher digestibility than the one with the higher m.p.,
37°C. These may be taken as indications to suggest that for the same base oil the
digestibility of its hydrogenated form falls down with an increase in melting point.
But such a contention does not hold in the case of cottonseed oil since the two
varieties of cottonseed vanaspatis with m.p. 35.5°C. and 37.3°C. have not exhibited
any significant difference between themselves (vide Table VIII). On the other hand,
it is to be observed that the difference in the m.p's. of the sesame vanaspatis or of
the two groundnut vanaspatis is greater than that between the m.p's. of the cotton
seed vanaspatis. This may, wholly or partially, be the reason for the significant
difference between the sesame and groundnut vanaspatis as against the non-significant
difference between the cottonseed ones. The difference in results of significance for
groundnut and sesame vanaspatis on the one hand and cottonseed vanaspatis on the
other might also very well arise out of some inherent difference between the base
oils. In any case there is no sufficient evidence obtainable from these trials to
conclusively favour any definite thesis regarding this point. It would be worth-
while to study this aspect by taking a greater number of vanaspatis made from the
same oil covering a wide range of variation in their m.p's. However, the results
indicate that the digestibility of vanaspatis decrease with a rise in the m. p. of the
finished product.
Unlike trial 1, the effect of sex has been shown significant in some respects in
trial 2. Although the main effect of sex is highly non-significant, the interaction
between sex X type, sex-x-pils and sex x vanaspatis have exhibited significance.
This implies that although on an average the two sexes do not show any difference
in digestibility, the response of the two sexes is of an opposite nature for the different
types of oils and fats and also separately for different varieties of oils and for different
varieties of vanaspatis. The significance of the interaction between sex and oils is
of a very high order which places extra emphasis on the differential nature of re-
action of sex with different varieties of oils. If the experiments were confined to
individual types instead of taking all types together, a different picture might have
been obtained.