Cholesterol lowering effect of jackbean (Canavalia ensiformis) seed protein.

1. Feeding jackbean (Canavalia ensiformis) protein to hypercholesterolemic rats considerably lowered cholesterol levels in the experimental animals than when the animals were fed casein (control) diets. 2. The cholesterol levels in various components of test animals fed the Canavalia diet ranged from 53.3 +/- 1.7 to 74.8 +/- 3.4 mg/g (plasma); from 11.1 +/- 7.4 to 23.3 +/- 5.4 mg/g (liver); from 7.1 +/- 0.7 to 9.3 +/- 1.7 mg/g (kidney) and 1.9 +/- 0.3 to 3.2 +/- 0.6 mg/g (heart). 3. Total lipid levels estimated for the animals on the test diets ranged from 80.0 +/- 2.4 to 130.1 +/- 9.1 mg/g (plasma); from 19.1 +/- 3.4 to 28.5 +/- 1.1 mg/g (liver); from 17.0 +/- 4.1 to 23.0 +/- 6.0 mg/g (kidney) and from 13.2 +/- 4.0 to 18.0 +/- 2.5 mg/g (heart). 4. Total protein levels in plasma of experimental animals were not significantly different (P less than 0.05) after feeding the control or test diets.