Biochemical and anthropometric profile of wistar rats treated with palm oil (Elaeis guineenses)

Obesity is considered a pandemic and is associated with numerous health risks such as dyslipidemia, hypertension, overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome, which are risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The bioactive compounds present in fruits, vegetables and oilseeds have biological effects on glycemic control, cholesterol levels, body weight, and therefore on CVD prevention. Elaeisguineenses is a palm of African origin, and from its fruits, it is possible to extracted oil. The fruits have an excellent repertoire of phytochemicals, carotenoids, tocopherols, and tocotrienols. Two groups of Wistar rats were used, which were kept under controlled conditions of time, temperature, relative humidity. Animals received food and waterad libitum andwere separated according to G1, control group, which received water and feed ad libitum; and G2, group that were fedad libitum, alternating water (48h) and palm oil (12h). The results showed that treatment with palm oil did not produce changes in the visceral fat weight and the Lee index, but significantly reduced the percentage of body weight. Biochemical parameters showed that the animals treated with palm oil had a significant reduction in levels of total cholesterol, LDL-c, triglycerides and VLDL-c, andan increase of HDL-c. We can concluded that the use of palm oil can bring metabolic benefits acting as a coadjuvant in the prevention of chronic non communicable diseases such as CVD.