Effects of garlic on lipid metabolism in rats fed cholesterol or lard

Effects of garlic on lipid metabolism were studied in three experiments using different aged male rats fed a diet containing 1% cholesterol or 15% lard. Lyophilized garlic was supplemented at 2% and 4% of the diet. Plasma glucose was not changed by dietary treatments. Rats fed cholesterol and lard diets increased plasma cholesterol and triglycerides compared to controls. Garlic decreased plasma cholesterol in cholesterol- and lard-fed rats, but decreased plasma triglycerides only in the lard-fed group. Garlic supplementation decreased very low density lipoprotein cholesterol and increased high density lipoprotein cholesterol. The liver weight, total liver lipid and cholesterol were increased in rats fed the cholesterol diet but a supplementation of garlic decreased those parameters by about 30%. Dietary cholesterol and lard decreased hepatic glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme activities: the garlic supplementation further decreased these enzyme activities. Garlic feeding increased the excretion of the neutral steroids in both 16-week and 10-week-old rats and bile acids in only 16-week-old pair-fed rats. Garlic at the 2% level was similarly effective on lipid metabolism as at 4%. These results demonstrate that garlic increases the excretion of neutral and acidic steroids and exerts hypocholesterolemic effects in cholesterol-fed rats.