Evaluation of the Efficacy of Corn Silk and Vitamin D on Hyperlipidemia and Obesity in Experimental Rats

Abstract

Obesity is one of the health problems that have serious consequences, especially as they have been transformed from individual cases into whole societies. This has resulted in an increase in the prevalence of obesity-related diseases. The current study was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic role of the powder and extracts (aqueous and alcoholic) of corn silk, either alone or in addition to vitamin D on high blood lipids and obesity in the experimental rats as well as an assessment of the nutritional value of corn silk. The biological study was carried out on fifty-four male rats, weighing 150 ± 10 g. They were divided into two main groups: the negative control group (6 rats fed on standard diet for the duration of the experiment) and the rest 48 rats were fed on a high fat diet for six weeks to cause obesity. The fat-fed rats were randomly divided into eight groups (6 rats each), one of them served as a positive control group and the other groups were treated by corn silk as follows; two of them were fortified by corn silk powder and corn silk powder with vitamin D. The other five groups were treated by corn silk tea (aqueous extract), ethanol extract, vitamin D, corn silk tea with vitamin D, and ethanolic extract with vitamin D for six weeks. The results revealed significant decreases in the final weight, percentage of body weight gain and body fat, adiposity index, in addition to serum cholesterol, triglycerides, low density lipoproteins, very low density lipoproteins, atherogenic index, malondialdehyde, leptin hormone and homocysteine. On the other hand, the results showed significant increases in the levels of high density lipoproteins and adiponectin. The treated rats showed a significant improvement in liver fat and improved antioxidant enzymes by a significant increase in the total capacity levels of antioxidants and superoxide dismutase compared to positive control group. The study concluded that the best results obtained were for the groups that were treated by the corn silk, either powder or extract, with vitamin D. Therefore, the study recommends by consumption of corn silk extract whether aqueous or alcoholic with vitamin D as a syrup, as well as in fortification of some food products for obese people or those with hyperlipidemia.