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Plasma lipid lowering effects of wheat germ in hypercholesterolemic subjects

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Abstract

The present study was performed to investigate the possible effects of wheat germ supplementation on lipid metabolism in humans. Ten free-living adult subjects participated in the study. None was obese or diabetic. They all presented an, hypercholesterolemia (from 6.58 to 9.50 mM), associated in 6 over 10 cases to an hypertriglyceridemia (from 1.70 to 5.00 mM). The subjects were studied in three consecutive periods, during which they first were on their usual diet (first week), they then ingested a daily supplement of 30 g wheat germ (4 weeks) and then they returned to their usual basal diet (4 weeks follow-up). Dietary records were obtained for 7 and 3 consecutive days before and during wheat germ supplementation, respectively. Fasting blood samples were taken at the end of each period. After 4 weeks of wheat, germ intake, glycemia did not change while total plasma cholesterol significantly decreased (paired Student'st test,p≤0.05) from 7.80 to 7.15 mM. LDL and HDL cholesterol values did not show marked changes, but VLDL cholesterol significantly dropped by 40.6%. Thus, the plasma/HDL total cholesterol ratio was significantly lower. Apoprotein B and A1 decreased. In the hypertriglyceridemic subjects, this was accompanied by a significant reduction of plasma triglycerides (1.64 vs. 2.68 mM) and a marked drop of VLDL triglycerides (−51%). Taken as a whole, the present results obtained in humans are very close to those previously obtained in the rat [40] and point out that wheat germ may play a beneficial role in the dietary management of hyperlipidemia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unité 130-INSERM (Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale), 18 Avenue Mozart, F-13009, Marseille, France

    Louis Cara, Patrick Borel, Martine Armand, Michele Senft & Huguette Lafont

  2. Laboratoire Central, Hopital Ste-Marguerite, F-13009, Marseille

    Henri Portugal, Anne-Marie Pauli & Denis Lairon

  3. Ecole de Diététique, F-31400, Toulouse

    Daniele Boulze

  4. Unité 317-INSERM, Institut de Physiologie, Université Paul Sabatier, F-31400, Toulouse, France

    Christianne Lacombe

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  1. Louis Cara
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  2. Patrick Borel
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  3. Martine Armand
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  4. Michele Senft
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  5. Huguette Lafont
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Additional information

Part of the data communicated in this paper was presented at the Fibre 90 Conference, 17–20 April 1990, Norwich, UK.

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Cara, L., Borel, P., Armand, M. et al. Plasma lipid lowering effects of wheat germ in hypercholesterolemic subjects. Plant Food Hum Nutr 41, 135–150 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02194082

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