El-Khedr Mohamed Mostafa El-Gamal and Usama Bhgat Mostafa El- Gazzar
Setting: For centuries, garlic (Allium sativum. L) plays an important medicinal role and culinary value. Cardiovascular disease (CV) is a complex disease associated with hypercholesterolemia.
Aim of the work: The study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary supplementation with garlic juice on hypercholesterolemia induced by a high dietary soybean oil extract and cholesterol in animal (male wistar rats).
Animals and methods: Animals were divided into three groups (each group was eight rats). Group one (control rats group) was fed with a control diet made up of the normal rat chow (C), group two of animals was fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet (HPC) enriched with 25% soybean oil and 1% cholesterol for 8 weeks and group three received a hypercholesterolemic diet (HPC) enriched with 25% soybean oil and 1% cholesterol as in second group simultaneously with daily oral administration of 1 ml of garlic juice/100 g body weight (equivalent to 4/10 g/100 g BW) for 8 weeks. Results: The total cholesterol concentrations (TC), the low density lipoprotein concentrations (LDL-C), the high density lipoprotein concentrations (HDL-C), and the ratio of triglycerides were investigated. The concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein (LDL-c) and the triglycerides was significantly increased in the serum of rats fed with the dietary intake of the hypercholesterolemic (HPC) diet. No significant difference in the HDL-C concentrations. Rats which were fed with the hypercholesterolemic (HPC) diet was observed weight loss of body and organs, heart, kidney, liver and abdominal fat. Significant better lipidemic status and weight improvement of the body and organs showed with the rats on a hypercholesterolemic (HPC) diet treated with a garlic juice. Therefore, the study suggested that garlic juice is an important determinant of serum lipid concentrations and weight, so it is considered as an antilipidaemic agent against the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.
