Protective Effects of Red Palm Oil and Super Red Palm Olein on Hypercholesterolemic Rats

Abstract

The present work was conducted to study the effect of red palm oil (RPO) and super red palm olien (SRPOL) on the nutritional parameters of rats suffering from hypercholesterolemic. The vitamins (E, A, D and K) and β carotene were determinate by HPLC and indicated that RPO and SRPOL are considered the richest vegetable oils of antioxidant specially α- tocopherol and β carotene. Thirty male rats weighting approximately 210 grams were divided into five groups, each group containing six rats. Group G1 fed on basal diet as a control negative group. Group G2 fed on basal diets containing 2% of cholesterol as a control positive group and the other groups G3, G4 and G5 fed on the same diet used in group G2, yet the corn oil was replaced by RPO in G3 and SRPOL in G4, Meanwhile, group G5 was fed on the same diet used in group G2 and supplemented with a drug contained Lipitor Atorvastatin (20 mg/Kg BW rat daily by stomach tube). Concerning biological evaluation all the studied dietary oils compared to positive control group caused an decreases in serum LDL-c and TC and significantly increased HDL-c over the feeding period of experimental rat groups, thereby decreased the TC/HDL-c and LDL-c/HDL-c ratios. Aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT) enzymes and albumin in rats serum were generally decreased by RPO, SRPOL and drug Lipitor compared to positive control group. Also urea, creatnine and uric acid levels in rats serum were significantly decreased by the studied oils and drug. However, a significant increment in the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPXs), catalase and total antioxidant were observed in blood of hypercholesterolemic rats treated with RPO, SRPOL and drug. As such, the treated groups showed a significant decrement in malondialdehyde (MDA) in plasma.