Improving the lipid profile in hypercholesterolemia-induced rabbit by supplementation of germinated brown rice.

It is imperative that there be a diet designed specifically to improve lipid profile in order to impede the progress of atherosclerosis. Because rice is a staple food in Asia, it will be chosen as the diet of interest. This study sets out to discover whether consumption of different processed rice diets may result in a change of the lipid profile. The experiment was done on male New Zealand white rabbits after 10 weeks of treatment with diet containing 0.5% cholesterol. The experimental diets include white rice (WR), brown rice (BR), and germinated brown rice (GBR). Among them, rabbits fed a GBR diet demonstrated significantly lower levels of total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), LDL/HDL, and atherogenic index (AI) and a higher level of high- density lipoprotein (HDL). Results from atherosclerotic plaque assessment further support the findings. The level of malondialde- hyde(MDA),whichactsasanindicatorforoxidativestress,wasalsoreducedbyGBRdiet.Thepositive changeinlipidprofileinthe rabbits fed GBR appeared to correspond with the higher amounts of γ-oryzanol, tocopherol, and monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content.