Effect of African Walnut (Tetracarpidium Conophorum) on Lipid Profile and Glucose Level in Albino Rats

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate changes in lipid profile and glucose levels in twenty albino rats fed with African walnut. The twenty albino rats were divided into four groups with five animals in each group. Group 1 were placed on normal diet, group 2,3 and 4 were given 1% cholesterol,1%cholesterol and 1% African walnut seed powder, and 1% cholesterol and 5% walnut seed powder respectively. The level of serum lipid and plasma glucose was carried out by spectrophotometric method. The results were analyzed for statistical significance using analysis of variance ANOVA, p-value < 0.05 were considered statistical significant. The level of total cholesterol increased in group 2(164.60 ± 7.09g) when compared to control (160.20±2.28g) at p<0.05.While a significant increase was seen in mean value of group 2(220.00±33.918mg/dl) and group 3(120.00±36.74mg/ dl) when compared to value of control (66.0±11.40mg/dl). Hence these observation indicate that supplementation of African walnut seed could be beneficial to patient with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.