Key result
Rhubarb stalk fibre reduces plasma total cholesterol ~13% vs. cellulose in cholesterol-fed mice.
Why the study?
Experimental and clinical studies suggested that dietary fibre from rhubarb stalks may have hypolipidaemic effects, but its impact on cholesterol degradation was unclear.
Does dietary rhubarb stalk fibre reduce plasma and hepatic cholesterol in C57BL/6J mice?
Does dietary rhubarb stalk fibre reduce plasma and hepatic cholesterol in C57BL/6J mice?
Effect estimate: -13%
Absolute Event Rate: 1.77% vs 2.03%
p-value: p=<0.05
Dietary rhubarb stalk fibre lowers plasma and hepatic cholesterol in mice by increasing bile acid excretion and inducing cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity.
Rhubarb stalk fibre merits human trials for lipid lowering; leaves open translation beyond cholesterol-fed mice.
Both experimental and clinical studies have indicated that a novel source of dietary fibre, produced from rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) stalks, is potentially hypolipidaemic. The present study, using C57BL/6J mice, was undertaken to examine if this fibre source affects cholesterol degradation. Mice were maintained on semi-purified diets containing 50 g rhubarb fibre or cellulose/kg with or without 5 g cholesterol/kg for 4 weeks. In cholesterol-supplemented mice, rhubarb fibre caused significant lowering of plasma cholesterol (-13%) and the hepatic concentrations of total cholesterol (-34%) and cholesteryl esters (-34%). In parallel to the reduction of hepatic cholesteryl ester content, animals fed on rhubarb fibre had significantly lower activity of acyl CoA: cholesterol acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.26) than the mice maintained on a diet containing cellulose and cholesterol. Rhubarb-fibre feeding accelerated the faecal bile-acid loss and diminished the gall-bladder bile-acid pool in both the normal and the cholesterol-fed mice. The increase in the bile-acid excretion was positively correlated with an increased activity as well as mRNA abundance of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (EC 1.14.13.17). The increased excretion of bile acids and induction of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase activity may account for the hypocholesterolaemic effect of rhubarb fibre.
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Cheema et al. (1999) studied Hypercholesterolemia (animal model) (n=24). Dietary rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum) stalk fibre vs. Cellulose (50 g/kg diet) was evaluated on Plasma total cholesterol in cholesterol-supplemented mice (mmol/l) (-13%, p=<0.05). In cholesterol-fed mice, dietary rhubarb stalk fibre significantly reduced plasma total cholesterol by 13% and hepatic total cholesterol by 34% compared to a cellulose control diet.
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