| Abstract | The effect of diets containing corn, olive, roselle seed oils and ghee (pure milk fat) on growth and tissue lipid profiles of C57PL/6N mice was investigated. No diet had deleterious effect on mice growth; however milk fat significantly increased mice body weight gain. Comparing with ghee, vegetable oils reduced serum cholesterol; whereas corn oil had the superior effect. Serum of mice fed olive oil and ghee held significantly higher levels of HDL cholesterol than the other groups. Among all mice, serum total/HDL cholesterol ratio was significantly lower in corn oil group, however, the olive oil diet significantly reduced serum LDL cholesterol. The ghee group held significantly eminent serum triglycerides (TG) content. Liver cholesterol content of mice fed corn or roselle seed oil was significantly lower than that of the other groups. The weight of adipose tissue and its content of TG were comparable among all groups. The present study demonstrates for the first time the nutritional properties and beneficial effects of roselle seed oil on tissue lipid profiles using experimental animals. The obtained results may support the claim of using roselle seed oil in human nutrition.
|