Effect of various dietary carbohydrates on supplementary cholesterol

Abstract

The effect of addition of different carbohydrates (starch, glucose, fructose) to the feed was investigated using the experimental animal. Additionally, the admixture of cholesterol and of cholesterol plus cholic acid was tested. Fructose (70% of the feed) causes a slight increase in serum triglyceride concentration and a very slight increase in triglyceride concentration in the liver. Fructose and to a lesser degree glucose cause an increase in pyruvate kinase activity in the liver. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase is increased slightly following high-dosed glucose, whereas the increase is very pronounced following fuctose-rich feed. The admixture of cholesterol (with cholic acid) causes a decrease in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity up to 70%. The activity of glutamate dehydrogenase is decreased also following cholesterol admixture. A fructose-rich diet causes a slight degree of hyperlipemia with a metabolic situation similar to a latent diabetic state. This effect is greatly intensified by the addition of cholesterol and cholic acid to the diet of the rats. Especially striking was the increase in serum-free-fatty-acid concentrations in all groups of animals. This is speculated to be a sign of insulin deficiency. The so-called "carbohydrate-induced hypertriglyceridemia" is obviously intensified within a short period by the admixture of cholesterol plus cholic acid to the experimental diet.