Effect of media milling on lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan

The effect of media milling on lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan was studied in rats fed high-fat diets. Results showed that media-milled chitosan was more effective than chitosan in reducing body weight gain and liver fat accumulation of rats. Compared with chitosan, the reducing effects of media-milled chitosan on serum triacylglycerol (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were increased by 10.1, 7.5 and 10.2%, and liver TG and TC-reducing effects were increased by 16.2 and 14.6%, respectively. Rats fed media-milled chitosan showed decreased levels of free fatty acid (FFA) and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. The cholesterol and fat in feces of rats fed media-milled chitosan were higher than those of rats fed chitosan. These results suggested media milling enhanced the lipid-lowering and antioxidant activities of chitosan, and the reason might be partly due to its effect on strengthening the ability of chitosan in promoting fecal lipid excretions.