Hypolipidaemic effects of oat flakes and β-glucans derived from four Chinese naked oat (Avena nuda) cultivars in Wistar-Lewis rats.

BACKGROUND

β-Glucan is widely considered to be the major ingredient responsible for the hypolipidaemic effects of oat. Determination of the β-glucan content in naked oat cultivars in China has been largely performed for breeding and food processing. Since oat is generally consumed as oat flakes in China, evaluation of the bioactivity of oat flakes might be more direct and comprehensive than determination of the internal β-glucan. However, the hypolipidaemic activity of oat flakes processed from Chinese oat cultivars has rarely been reported.

RESULTS

The nutritional components of four naked oat cultivars were analysed before they were processed to oat flakes. The hypolipidaemic effects of oat flakes and the extracted β-glucans were tested on rats fed a high-fat diet for 30 days. Oat flakes and β-glucans of different origins showed different preventative effects on hyperlipidaemia. Among the four cultivars, β-glucan of 'Bayou-1' showed the greatest hypolipidaemic effect. However, oat flake processed from 'Dingyou-7' showed the best bioactivity to mediate the increase of serum lipid.

CONCLUSION

The hypolipidaemic effect of oat might not only depend on β-glucan, but might also be related to other components. 'Dingyou-7' might be suitable for oat flake processing because of its superior bioactivity.