The effects of dietary protein and fat on cholesterol metabolism in the golden Syrian hamster

• Main Author: Goyette, Nathalie
• Other Authors: Kubow, Stan (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1993
• Subjects: Cholesterol > Metabolism.; Proteins in nutrition.; Lipids in nutrition.
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26020

Dietary fats and animal proteins have been shown to exert different lipidemic responses in many animals, including humans. Oxidative stress has been associated with the development of several diseases including atherosclerosis. The hypotheses of this study were that: (1) the degree and type of dietary fatty acid unsaturation will influence the type of cholesterolemic responses via the induction of differential levels of oxidative stress; and (2) hyperlipidemia induced by casein in a butterfat-based diet is related to increased tissue lipid peroxidation. Male Golden Syrian hamsters were fed diets containing butterfat/casein (BF/CAS), butterfat/egg white (BF/EGG), safflower oil/egg white (SAFF/EGG) or menhaden oil/egg white (MHO/EGG) for 27 days. In comparison to the BF/EGG and SAFF/EGG diet groups, the MHO/EGG hamsters exhibited higher levels of total serum cholesterol, serum triglyceride, serum apolipoprotein B and serum lipid peroxides. These results suggest that MHO induced-hyperlipidemia could be exerted through increased concentrations of serum apolipoprotein B and increased serum lipid peroxidation. The BF/CAS diet, in comparison to the BF/EGG diet, increased serum total cholesterol and increased serum and hepatic levels of lipid peroxides. These results suggest that dietary casein-induced hypercholesterolemia could be related to increased oxidative stress. The protective effect of dietary egg white on lipid peroxidation may involve sulfur amino acids which are found in greater amounts in egg white than casein.