Re-Evaluation of Individual and Combined Garlic and Flaxseed Diets on Hyperlipidemic Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to re-evaluate the effect of individual garlic and flaxseed and for the first time, we studied the effect of combined consumption of 10% of flaxseed and garlic, for 30 days on biochemical and histological factors of hyperlipidemic rats. The feeding trial was conducted on rats with high levels of serum cholesterol and triacylglycerol. Histological results showed a marked improvement of kidney tissues responding to garlic alone and a combined flaxseed and garlic diet but a slight histopathological change were noticed in flaxseed diet group. Garlic results showed no histopathological changes in aorta, kidneys and liver that may illustrate the healing effect of fresh garlic on tissues. Biochemical results indicated that the mean of blood total cholesterol, triacylglycerol were reduced, as the effect of fresh garlic (FGD), flaxseed (FD) and combined fresh garlic and flaxseed diet (FFGD) but HDL-C was increased in fresh garlic diet only. Best results were obtained from flaxseed diets that reduced cholesterol levels markedly to 115% over negative control group. Slight reduction of serum levels of LDL-C has noticed in flaxseed (FD) and fresh garlic diets (FGD). These results may support the Mediterranean diet consumption that is rich in fresh food such as fresh garlic and seeds that may protect from heart disease.