Shanmugasundaram Balasubramanian, Singh Vijay Kumar, Shrestha Shrijana, Sarkar Sajib Kumar, Jeevaratnam Kadirvelu, Koner Bidhan Chandra

ABSTRACT

Coconut oil and sesame oil are commonly used in South India for frying foods. On heating, edible oils form hazardous chemicals. This study explores the effect of consumption of unheated and thermally-altered sesame and coconut oils on coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors in Wistar rats. Thirty Wistar albino rats were randomly divided into five groups (n=6/group). Group I (Control) was fed only chow, Group II chow + unheated sesame oil, Group III chow + heated sesame oil, Group IV Chow + unheated coconut oil, Group V chow + heated coconut oil. After eight weeks of treatment, serum lipid profile, hs-CRP, leptin, glucose, insulin, HOMA-IR, TNF-α, IL-6 and plasma homocysteine and fibrinogen levels were estimated. Rats in Group II showed a significant decrease in serum cholesterol, LDL-c, TNF-α, hs-CRP, insulin, and HOMA-IR but a significant increase in HDL-c, Group III showed opposite effects on these parameters, except that it decreased serum triglycerides level. Group IV and V did not show any significant effect on stated parameters. We conclude that consumption of unheated sesame oil gives protective effects against the CAD. Thermally altered sesame oil increases the CAD risk. Unheated and thermally altered coconut oil did not show any significant effect. Hence, we recommend that sesame oil better be used for dressing the food and coconut oil for frying.