Abstract
Summary
Effects on lipid metabolism in rats were studied of (1) commercially available whole wheat flour (WW) and (2) hard-red winter (HRW) whole wheat and mill-fractions in cholesterol-free diets. For similar food intake, dietary WW as compared with white flour (WF) increased bile acid excretion, fecal dry weight, pellet number and size. The activities of hepatic dehydrogenases in the hexose-monophosphate shunt pathway were significantly higher in WW-fed than in WF-fed rats, and malic enzyme activity showed a similar trend. These higher enzyme activities are associated with a trend of higher levels of cholesterol in serum and liver and bigger size of abdominal fat pads. The effects on lipid metabolism varied among fractions of HRW whole wheat and mill-fractions. Cholesterol contents of both serum and liver were higher in rats fed whole wheat and low-grade flour diets than those fed shorts-germ and patent diets. Rats fed bran diet, however, had low serum cholesterol content. The levels of serum and liver total lipid also varied among groups and showed no consistent pattern in relation to cholesterol levels. The excretion of neutral steroids was significantly higher in rats fed whole wheat than in rats fed any other diets. The results suggest that a factor in wheat affected the levels of cholesterol in serum and liver and was concentrated in the low-grade flour fraction and also that dietary fiber from wheat did not alter cholesterol levels in serum and liver.
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