Dietary effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) containing soyphospholipid.

In this study, we evaluated on a comparative basis the dietary effect between eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5, EPA)- containing soyphospholipid and soyphospholipid without EPA when added at 5% or 10% level by weight in soybean oil as the dietary oil on the proportions of lipid components in serum of rats. Rats were taken in five groups. One group was fed 20% soybean oil. Two groups received soybean oil containing 5% and 10% soyphospholipid by weight, respectively. Two other groups were fed soybean oil containing 5% and 10% EPA- containing soyphospholipid by weight, respectively. The other dietary components remained same for all the groups. The feeding experiment was conducted for 4 weeks. After the feeding period there was no significant change in weight gain, food intake and food efficiency ratio (FER). No significant change was observed in serum lipid profiles between the rats fed soybean oil and soybean oil with 5% or 10% soyphospholipid. There was significant decrease in serum triglyceride (TG) level in the rats fed soybean oil blended with EPA containing soyphospholipid at 5% level. The contents of total cholesterol (TC), TG, very low density lipoprotein (VLDL)-cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol decreased significantly while high density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol increased compared to the soyphospholipid group at 10% level.