Effects of Dietary β-Glucan on Serum Lipids and Performance Indices in Rats Fed a Diet Enriched with Cholesterol

The aims of this study were to investigate effects of β-glucan on body weight gain, food intake, food conversion ratio and serum total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (hdl-cholesterol), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (ldlcholesterol) and triglyceride levels in female rats fed hypercholesterolemic diet. female sprague-dawley rats (8-weeks-old) weighing 161.78±3.88 g were divided into three equal groups. group 1 (control) was fed basal diet (2% liquid-vegetable oil, 0% cholesterol), group 2 was fed high-cholesterol diet (2% liquid- vegetable oil, 15% hydrogenated-oil and 1.5% cholesterol) and group 3 was fed high-cholesterol diet with 1% β-glucan. the trial period was 30 days. blood samples were withdrawn on days 0 and 30. also, all rats were weighed on same days. serum total cholesterol, hdl-cholesterol, ldl-cholesterol and triglyceride levels were detected with commercial kits by auto-analyzer. body weight gain, food intake and food conversion ratio, and serum total cholesterol and ldl-cholesterol levels were significantly lower (p<0.05) in group 3 (the group fed fatty and added β-glucan) than in the other two groups. serum hdl-cholesterol and triglyceride levels were not significant between all groups at the end of the study. β-glucan supplementation negatively affected food intake. however, β-glucan effectively lowered serum ldl-cholesterol and total cholesterol concentrations without affecting hdl-cholesterol and triglyceride levels. therefore, β-glucan may decrease the cholesterol synthesizing ability of liver and the risk for atherosclerotic vascular disease.