Effect of melanoidin on the plasma cholesterol level in rats fed with diets containing cholesterol and sodium cholate.

Abstract

In male rats of the Wistar strain that were fed with a 25% casein (25C) diet supplemented with cholesterol (CHO) and/or sodium cholate (SC), the effects of melanoidin (a mixture of low- and high-molecular weight components that was prepared from a glucose-lysine system) on the contents of lipids, CHO and bile acids were examined. Animals weighing 160- 180 g were given ad libitum the 25C meal containing either or both 1% CHO and 0.2% SC with or without 4% of melanoidin for 3 weeks. By adding melanoidin to the 25C diet supplemented with CHO or CHO and SC, the level of total plasma CHO was depressed, but the amounts of total liver CHO, total fecal CHO and total bile acids were enhanced in general. The 25C diet containing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6% of SC with or without CHO and melanoidin was fed ad libitum to the rats having about 90 g of body weight the 3 days. The addition of melanoidin to the CHO meal containing 0.2% SC restrained the total plasma CHO concentration and, furthermore, elevated the amount of total fecal CHO. However, these effects were not observed by supplementing the 0.6% SC-added CHO diet with melanoidin.