Dietary Fiber and Dietary Protein of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon Citratus Stapf.) as Potential Functional Food in Risk Prevention for Diabetes Mellitus and Cardiovascular Disease: An Animal Model

This study determined the glucose-lowering and cholesterol-lowering effects of large molecules, dietary fiber (DF) and protein, of lemongrass in an animal model using completely randomized design. Total DF and protein were extracted; dietary protein (DP) was further digested to obtain protein hydrolyzates (PH). Sprague-Dawley rats were initially fed with high sugar, high fat and high cholesterol diet for two weeks, then administered with total DF, DP, PH, and a combination of DF and DP for another two weeks while maintained with the diet. Blood samples were obtained for determination of fasting blood sugar (FBS), total cholesterol, HDL and LDL+VLDL levels, and the differences before and after treatments were compared. There was a total of six treatment groups, including Untreated and Acarbose+Pravastatin treatment, which served as controls. Administration of DF, DP, PH, and DF+DP resulted to lower increase of FBS in comparison with control groups. However, PH treatment led to the greatest decrease in total cholesterol levels among the treatments. HDL cholesterol levels were not affected by the treatments. The rise in LDL+VLDL cholesterol levels was least in rats treated with DP, but the group treated with PH did not increase. Thus among the treatments, protein hydrolyzates exerted the most effective glucose- and cholesterol-lowering effects in rats fed with high sugar, high fat, and high cholesterol diet. Furthermore, the treatments appeared to have reduced the extent of injury on liver and kidney cells caused by the diet. This study supports the potential of lemongrass as a functional food in mitigating the risk of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (CVD) through prevention of hyperglycemia and hypercholesterolemia.