Abstract

The present study investigates the effect of consumption of coconut oil (CO) mixed with erucic acid rich rapeseeds which induced a significant change of blood serum lipids in rats. After 6 weeks of feeding to Wistar rats, body weight gain, food efficiency ratio (FER) and serum lipid profile such as Total cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), High density lipoprotein (HDL) and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were determined. Rapeseed reduced the body weight and FER whereas TC, TG, and LDL were increased. But coconut oil causes significant increase in body weight gain, FER and decreased serum TC, TG and LDL activities. In addition, the mixture of both oil supplements decreased body weight gain, FER and serum TC, TG and LDL activities, the results demonstrated the effects of coconut oil in lowering lipids levels in serum and it also protects the toxic effect of rapeseed.

Keywords: Coconut, rapeseed, serum lipids.