Influence of fat level and type of carbohydrate on the capacity of pectin in lowering serum and liver lipids of young rats
Chang, M.L.; Johnson, M.A.
Journal of Nutrition 106(11): 1562-1568
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0022-3166 PMID: 978265 Document Number: 105870
Groups of rats were fed on nutritionally complete diets containing equal protein:energy ratios, varied with 5% (low-fat, 2% maize oil and 3% tallow) or 20% (high-fat, 2% maize oil and 18% tallow) fat and maize starch or sucrose as carbohydrate for 2 weeks. Although there was no interaction, added pectin reduced the cholesterol content of liver and serum to a greater degree in rats on the low-fat than in those on the high-fat diet. In the low-fat diet, effectiveness was higher with sucrose than with maize starch, but in the high-fat diet it was reversed. The size of perirenal fat pads and the concentrations of total liver lipid and cholesterol were less in rats on the high-fat pectin diet than in those on the high-fat diet without pectin, indicating that pectin also had an ability to reduce fat absorption. When serum alkaline phosphatase was low, pectin was more effective in reducing cholesterol. This phenomenon seemed due to the type of carbohydrate and fat rather than the cholesterol in the diet. Dietary cholesterol had no effect on the size of perirenal fat pads, but increased liver lipid content greatly in rats on the high-fat diet. Dietary pectin increased the rate of removal of serum cholesterol, and a similar trend was shown in liver cholesterol which had accumulated from the high-cholesterol diet.