Effect of pre-germination time of brown rice on serum cholesterol levels of hypercholesterolaemic rats

• Published in: Journal of the science of food and agriculture 2010-01, Vol.90 (2), p.245-251
• Main Authors: Roohinejad, Shahin, Omidizadeh, Alireza, Mirhosseini, Hamed, Saari, Nazamid, Mustafa, Shuhaimi, Mohd Yusof, Rokiah, Meor Hussin, Anis Shobirin, Hamid, Azizah, Abd Manap, Mohd Yazid
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animal models; Animals; Blood; blood lipids; brown rice; Chemical compounds; Cholesterol; Cholesterol - blood; Cholesterol, LDL - blood; Comparative analysis; diet; Dietary Fats - administration & dosage; dietary fiber; Dietary Fiber - metabolism; dietary fibre; Diets; Effects; Food Handling; Food science; Functional Food; functional foods; gamma-aminobutyric acid; gamma-Aminobutyric Acid - metabolism; gamma-oryzanol; Germination; grain products; Human; hypercholesterolaemia; hypercholesterolemia; Hypercholesterolemia - diet therapy; Lipids - blood; low density lipoprotein; Male; Males; Oryza - chemistry; Oryza - growth & development; Phenylpropionates - metabolism; Polished; pre-germination; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Rice; Rodents; seed germination; temporal variation; γ-amino butyric acid (GABA); γ-oryzanol
• ISSN: 0022-5142; 1097-0010
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.3803

BACKGROUND: Brown rice is unpolished rice with immeasurable benefits for human health. Brown rice (BR) and pre-germinated brown rice (PGBR) are known to contain various functional compounds such as γ-oryzanol, dietary fibre and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). In the present study, the experimental diets containing BR and PGBR (24, 48 h pre-germination) were used to investigate the influence of pre-germination time of brown rice on blood cholesterol in Sprague-Dawley male rats.RESULTS: Hypercholesterolaemia and elevation of LDL-cholesterol were successfully ameliorated by the experimental diets containing BR and PGBR (24 and 48 h pre-germination). As compared to the control sample, the pre-germination time had a significant (P < 0.05) effect on blood cholesterol of Sprague-Dawley male rats. It was also found that the significantly (P < 0.05) better effect on lipid profile of hypercholesterolaemic rats was observed by prolonging the pre-germination time. As compared to non-germinated brown rice, the germinated brown rice showed the higher cardio-protective effect on hypercholesterolaemic Sprague-Dawley male rats.CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that the changes of blood cholesterol can be mainly modulated by using the PGBR rather than BR. The prolonging of pre-germination time led to an increase in the bioactive components, thereby providing a more efficient functional diet affecting the high blood cholesterol. This study suggests that PGBR can be used instead of BR and polished rice in the human diet.