Dietary supplementation of prebiotics such as inulin and
oligofructose reduced the buildup of fatty plague on the arteries, which can
result in atherosclerosis and heart disease, according to a new study.
The
study found that levels of tryacylglycerol were significantly lower in mice fed
a diet with long chain inulin or an oligofructose-enriched inulin compared to
those fed a diet without prebiotics added.
Additionally, atherosclerotic plague was reduced by 30 percent in the
study groups.
Atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries is a major
cause for cardiovascular disease, which claims almost 50 percent of deaths in
Europe. Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States.
For the study, which appears in
the
British Journal of Nutrition, Marie-Hélène Rault-Nania and
colleagues from the Auvergne Human Nutrition Research Centre (UMR1019, INRA)
and the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy,
Besancon
tested inulin and oligofructose in male apolipoprotein-E-deficient mice
to examine their effects on the buildup of fatty plague.
The mice were prone to
atherosclerosis as apolipoprotein-E
is needed to break down triglyceride-rich lipoprotein constituents and prevent the
buildup of fatty plague on artery wall.
The
mice were used so that it would be easier for researchers to study fatty
plague.
In the study, Rault-Nania and her colleagues randomly assigned 32 mice to
one of four diets: a semi-purified sucrose-based diet as control, or a diet with
either long-chain inulin, or oligofructose, or an oligofructose-enriched inulin
added at the level of 10 g/100g.
The researchers found that the mice on the diet with either long-chain
inulin or an oligofructose-enriched inulin had 35 and 25 percent reduced atherosclerotic
plaques respectively after 16-week supplementation, compared to the control
group.
In addition, the long-chain inulin group had significantly lower plasma
cholesterol concentrations, and those mice on a diet with any of three inulin-type
fructans had significantly lower triacylglycerol concentrations than the
control group.
"Both the long-chain inulin and an oligofructose-enriched inulin
significantly lowered hepatic cholesterol concentrations compared with the
control diet. Hepatic TAG concentrations were significantly lower in all three
groups fed the fructan-supplemented diets v. the control group," the
researchers wrote.
They concluded that “the results of the present study suggest that
inhibition of atherosclerotic plaque formation is more potent in the presence
of long-chain inulin, either alone or in combination with oligofructose (an
oligofructose-enriched inulin), and that this probably is related to changes in
lipid metabolism.”
Source:
British Journal of Nutrition
2006 Nov;96 (5):840-4
“Inulin attenuates atherosclerosis in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice”
Authors: M-H. Rault-Nania, E. Gueux, C. Demougeot, C. Demigné, E. Rock, A.
Mazur
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
