Eat like a pig! (without looking like one)

This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, this little piggy had roast beef — and this little genetically modified piggy might improve your health.

While only in the early stages of research, pigs enriched with omega-3 fatty acids, known to help fight cardiovascular disease in humans, could some day be on the menu.

The collaborative work of Randy Prather at MU, Yifan Dai at the University of Pittsburgh and Jing X. Kang at Massachusetts General Hospital has resulted in a process to replace omega-6 fatty acids with beneficial omega-3 acids.

A litter of five white boars born in Columbia in November represents the first cloned, genetically modified livestock with beneficial potential to humans anywhere, said Prather, an internationally known pig reproductive physiologist.

“The three of us got together to do work that individually we couldn’t have done alone,” said Prather, also co-director of the newly built National Swine Research and Resource Center, which will open on MU’s East Campus in the summer.

A couple of years in the making, the study is being funded by the National Institutes of Health. The pig research was initiated by Dai, who had seen results published by Kang on the first omega-3 rich mammal, the mouse, in 2004. Pigs were seen as ideal candidates for the study because of their physical structure.

“Pigs and humans have a similar physiology,” Prather said.

But the enriched pigs won’t be making their way to the dinner table anytime soon. The FDA has yet to approve the entry of any genetically modified animals into the food chain, and the process to do so is guaranteed to be lengthy and expensive.

“The time is infinite and, therefore, so is the cost,” said Prather in regard to a time line or price tag.

But if the meat from the modified animals is sold, the benefits could reach beyond the hearts and stomachs of consumers, MU spokesman Christian Basi said. Farmers could also see benefits from healthier animals that live longer, producing more litters and reducing replacement costs.

“While fish, especially salmon and tuna, is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids, we have been warned to limit consumption because of high mercury levels,” said Dai, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine’s Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. “These animals could represent an alternative source as well as an ideal model for studying cardiovascular disease.”

The modified pigs will also be part of other research being done at MU’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Harold Laughlin, chairman of the college’s biomedical services, plans to use the pigs as part of his research into the effect of exercise on cardiovascular health.

The complete findings of the pig omega-3 research will be published in the April 6 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Nature Biotechnology.