Hypocholesterolemic effect of dietary evening primrose (Oenothera paradoxa) cake extract in rats

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary evening primrose cake extract (E) on the lipid indices and lipid peroxidation products in growing rats fed cholesterol-free standard diet (S) or diets enriched with 1% cholesterol (C). All animals were divided into five groups of 10 and were fed during 4 weeks experimental diets: group (Gr) I-standard diet (S); Gr 2-S diet supplemented with 1% E (S+1%E); Gr 3-with 1% C (S+1%C); Gr 4-S + 1%C + 0.5%E and Gr 5-S + 1%C + 1%E. Dietary E significantly decreased plasma total cholesterol (TC) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) but did not change the high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) either in rats fed cholesterol-free or enriched-in-cholesterol diets. Plasma TC were 98.7, 81.3, 144.6, 114.5 and 99.1 mg 100 ml(-1), whereas LDL-C values were 19.4, 7.6, 77.2, 43.6 and 27.6 mg 100 ml(-1) in Groups 1-5, respectively. Supplementation of diet with E significantly elevated triglyceride and phospholipid concentrations in the liver; also 1% E with C (S + 1%C + 1%E) caused significant TC accumulation in the liver and elevated malondialdehyde concentrations in plasma and erythrocytes. In conclusion, this study demonstrates, for the first time, that evening primrose cake extract (E) possesses strong hypocholesterolemic action. Its antioxidative properties, especially in animals loaded with dietary cholesterol, are less clear and need further studies. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.