The Effect of Evening Primrose Oil on Chemical and Blood Cholesterol Lowering Properties of Cheddar Cheese Seoul 139-742, Korea.

Abstract

The present study was carried out to investigate the changes in chemical and sensory properties, and cholesterol lowering effect of evening primrose oil (EPO) addition in cholesterol-reduced Cheddar cheese. The cholesterol removal rate reached 92.07% by β-cyclodextrin in the cheese before EPO addition. The thiobarbituric acid (TBA) value of cholesterol-reduced and EPO- added cheese increased with both ripening time and amount of EPO addition. Addition of 5% EPO resulted in a significant difference in TBA value after 4-week ripening, compared with no addition of EPO. The production of short-chain free fatty acids (FFAs) increased with ripening period in all treatments. From 4 week of ripening, the amounts of short-chain FFA in 3 and 5% EPO-added groups were significantly higher than those in other groups. Among sensory characteristics, rancidity was mostly affected by EPO addition, however, the rancidity value of 1% EPO-added was not significantly different from that of EPO-free and cholesterol-reduced cheese. Also, Cheddar cheese flavor was not profoundly affected by 1% EPO addition in all ripening periods. Total blood cholesterol dramatically decreased from 184.0 to 137.1 mg/dL with 5% EPO-added and cholesterol-reduced cheese following 8 weeks of feeding. The present results indicated that 5% EPO addition resulted in a profound lowering effect on blood total cholesterol with some adverse effects on chemical and sensory properties. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2006. Vol 19, No. 3 : 450-458)