High conjugated linoleic acid enriched ghee (clarified butter) increases the antioxidant and antiatherogenic potency in female Wistar rats.
BACKGROUND
Hypercholesterolemia and oxidative stress are the main stimulating factors responsible for coronary artery disease and progression of atherosclerosis. Dairy food products are rich in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which is considered as an important component due to its potential health benefits such as anticarcinogenic, antiatherogenic, antidiabetic and antiadipogenic properties. In the present study, the effect of CLA enriched ghee on the antioxidant enzyme system and antiatherogenic properties in Wistar rats has been studied.


METHODS
Female Wistar rats of 21 days were taken for the study and fed with soybean diet (Control diet), low CLA diet and high CLA ghee diet (treatments) for thirty five days for studying antioxidative enzymes and sixteen weeks in case of antiatherogenic studies.


RESULTS
Feeding of high CLA enhanced ghee during pubescent period in rats lead to an increase in catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activities in blood and increased CAT, SOD and glutathione transferase (GST) enzymes activities in liver by 27, 130 and 168 percent, respectively. Plasma nitrate concentration and Haemoglobin levels remained the same in all the treatments. Feeding of high CLA ghee resulted in lower (P < 0.01) plasma cholesterol & triglyceride level (52.17 and 30.27%), and higher high density lipoproteins (33.26%) than feeding of soybean oil (control group) and thus manifested in decreased (P < 0.05) atherogenic index (from 0.472 to 0.244). Lesser cholesterol and triglyceride levels were observed in the liver and aorta of high CLA fed rats than in those of the other groups. Histopathological studies of liver showed normal hepatic cords with portal triad in the high CLA ghee fed rats whereas fatty degeneration of hepatocytes containing fat vacuoles was observed in the liver of the other groups.


CONCLUSIONS
This paper is the first report of the antioxidant and antiatherogenic properties of the high CLA enriched ghee suggesting that high CLA ghee can be used as a potential food for decreasing the risk of cardiovascular diseases, particularly in India, where, ghee is widely used for culinary and medicinal purposes.
Dairy Cattle Nutrition (DCN) Division, National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, 132001, India. amrishtyagi1963@yahoo.com.
Kathirvelan
K
Chinnadurai
Harpreet Kaur
HK
Kanwal
Amrish Kumar
AK
Tyagi
Catherine
C
Stanton
Paul
P
Ross
D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D005260:Female; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000378:metabolism; D044243:Linoleic Acids, Conjugated / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009566:Nitrates / Q000097:blood; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013025:Glycine max / Q000378:metabolism; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D000975:Antioxidants; D004041:Dietary Fats; D044243:Linoleic Acids, Conjugated; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D009566:Nitrates; D014280:Triglycerides; D002784:Cholesterol; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase