Comparison Between the Effects of Different Sources of Dietary Fiber on Blood Lipid Profile in Rats

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different sources of dietary fiber on serum lipids and lipoproteins in Sprague-Dawley rats, namely total cholesterol (TC), Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high–density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) triglyceride (TG), and (HDL-C/LDL-C) ratio. The experimental diets included casein diet, untreated wheat bran diet, soaked wheat bran diet, Arabic white bread diet, lupine diet, chickpea and pectin diet. Each group of rats (6/group) was fed one of the seven prepared diets for 6 weeks. Untreated wheat bran has hypercholesterolemic effect since it significantly (p<0.05) increased TC, LDL-C and decreased HDL-C values as compared with treated bran diets. The soaking process lowered significantly (p<0.05) TC and LDL-C levels in comparison with casein diet. Chickpea diet had higher significant value of HDL-C than soaked wheat bran and lupine diets. However, it was not significantly different from casein and untreated wheat bran diet.  In addition, Chickpea diet had a significantly higher HDL-C value than pectin diet. The values of HDL-C of the Lupine diet are not significantly different (p>0.05) from casein and pectin diets, but it has also decreased LDL-C. White bread was found to have no hypocholesterolemic effect in comparison with treated brans groups and control group; it raised TG, TC and LDL-C levels. Pectin had a similar behavior in a remarkable decrease blood TC and LDL-C cholesterol. White bread was found to have  no hypocholesterolemic effect in comparison with treated brans groups and control group; it raised TG, TC and LDL-C  levels. It is concluded that the behavior of cereals and legumes varies in its effect on cholesterol–lowering ability. Preparation of wheat bran foods by soaking improve some physiological characteristics of insoluble fibers, particularly lowering total cholesterol TC and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol LDL-C).

Keywords: Dietary fiber, Arabic bread, Wheat bran, Soaking, Chickpea, Lupine, Pectin, Lipoproteins, Rat.