Oil palm phenolics and vitamin E reduce atherosclerosis in rabbits

The protective effects of oil palm vitamin E and phenolics against atherosclerosis, either singly or in combination, were studied in an atherogenic rabbit model. Rabbits were either fed atherogenic diet only (CTR), or atherogenic diet with vitamin E (VIT E), or atherogenic diet with oil palm phenolics (OPP), or atherogenic diet with both vitamin E and oil palm phenolics (VIT E + OPP). Results from lipid profile and antioxidant analyses were not significantly different between groups (p > 0.05). However, fibrous plaques were associated with the CTR group (8.90 ± 5.41%) and these were significantly less (p < 0.05) in the VIT E (2.88 ± 2.01%) and OPP (1.48 ± 4.45%) groups. Fibrous plaques were not detected at all in the VIT E + OPP group. Our findings suggest that oil palm vitamin E and oil palm phenolics individually inhibited atherosclerotic lesion development. However, oil palm vitamin E in combination with oil palm phenolics provided the highest protective effect against development of atherosclerotic lesions.