The comparative hypocholesteremic effect of feeding palm oil and palm oil mill effluent (POME) was investigated in male albino rats. Diets were prepared and designed to contain 50% of energy as carbohydrate, 35% as fat, and 15% as protein. Groups of six rats were each fed one of these diets, while a group was fed pelletized mouse chow which served as the control. Feeding on palm oil and POME led to a significant increase (p < 0.05) in serum total cholesterol, triglyceride, and vLDL. Feeding on POME led to significant increase (p < 0.05) in cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL levels in brain tissues. Increased hepatic LDL level was also observed in POME fed rats. Except for hepatic triglyceride and tissues HDL level, a rather reduced level of the studied lipids was observed in the serum and tissues of palm oil fed rats compared to POME. These results indicate the protective potentials of palm oil against cardiovascular disease, as well as hyperlipidemia that characterize obesity and hypertension; as compared to its effluent.

The cardiovascular protective and hypolipidemia e f f e c t s o f s o y b e a n o i l w e r e i n v e s t i g a t e d i n normocholesteremic rats. Diets were prepared and designed to contain 50 % of energy as carbohydrate, 35 % as fat, and 15 % as protein. Groups of six rats were each fed one of these diets, while a group was fed pelletized mouse chow which served as the control. A significant reduction (p<0.05) was observed in the cholesterol, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels of the soybean oil fed group. There was no significant alteration in the high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels of all the groups. The studied atherogenic indices were significantly low in the soybean oil fed group compared to the other groups. These results indicate a protective effect of soybean oil against the development of cardiovascular disease as well as the hyperlipidemia that characterize obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus.