Indigestible cowpea proteins reduced plasma cholesterol after long-term oral administration to Sprague-Dawley rats

Table 2 Effect of experimental diets on feed consumption, body weight and plasma cholesterol levels in rats fed cholesterol-enriched diets^a

	Group 1	Group 2	Group 3	Group 4
Body weight gain (g/week)
-Male	77 ± 24	72 ± 14	72 ± 15	75 ± 17
-Female	34 ± 10	42 ± 11	35 ± 21	38 ± 16
-Mean	55 ± 21	57 ± 15	54 ± 18	56 ± 19
Feed consumption (g/week)
-Male	36.5 ± 4.1	36.2 ± 4.7	35.7 ± 6.4	34.3 ± 5.8
-Female	23.8 ± 3.6	24.7 ± 3.5	21.5 ± 3.2	23.4 ± 3.3
-Mean	30.2 ± 7.4	30.4 ± 7.1	28.6 ± 8.7	28.8 ± 7.3
Plasma cholesterol (mmol/L)
Week 0
-Male	3.75 ± 0.10	3.49 ± 0.08	2.63 ± 0.10	2.38 ± 0.01
-Female	3.51 ± 0.21	2.46 ± 0.10	2.51 ± 0.06	3.16 ± 0.05
-Mean	3.63 ± 0.12	2.98 ± 0.52	2.57 ± 0.10	2.77 ± 0.39
Week 6
-Male	5.22 ± 0.09	5.27 ± 0.01	3.82 ± 0.00	4.34 ± 0.08
-Female	10.33 ± 1.01	13.95 ± 0.16	4.95 ± 0.42	19.87 ± 1.20
-Mean	7.78 ± 2.56	9.61 ± 4.31	4.39 ± 0.57	12.11 ± 7.77

CPI cowpea protein isolate, ICP indigestible proteins obtained after pepsin + pancreatin digestion of CPI pretreated with slow cooling gelation)
^a Group 1: 20% casein; group 2: 19% casein + 1% ICP; group 3: 15% casein + 5% ICP; group 4: 15% casein + 5% CPI

ISSN: 2661-8974