Cereal Chem 61:514 - 518.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Effects of Dietary Pectin, Phytate, and Calcium on Selected Lipid Parameters in the Rat.

M. A. Bock and G. S. Ranhotra. Copyright 1984 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

For 12 wk, male weanling rats were fed a diet containing 12% of the calories from protein, 42% from fat, and 46% from carbohydrates. The diet contained 0.2% cholesterol (CH). Pectin (5 and 10%), phytate (0.31 and 0.62%), and calcium (0.4 and 0.8%) were tested with the diet (2 X 2 X 2 factorial design) to determine their effects on selected lipid parameters. During the first eight weeks of the study, pectin significantly (P less than 0.001) affected both total (T) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-CH. At week 4, T-CH and HDL-CH were lowest in animals fed low pectin diets. By week 8, both of these levels were lower in rats consuming high pectin diets. By week 12, pectin affected only T-CH, through a concurrent interaction with phytate and calcium (P less than 0.01). Pectin also had a sustained significant (P less than 0.01-0.001) lowering effect on liver cholesterol but a variable effect on liver and serum triglycerides. Both phytate and calcium appeared to enhance pectin's lowering effect on CH.