2011 Volume 64 Issue 2 Pages 99-106
We investigated the preventive efficacy of dietary fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) on diet-induced metabolic disorder in normal SD rats. The diets employed were a standard diet (STD) and a high-fat high-sucrose (HFS) diet, both with or without fenugreek. Normal SD rats fed the HFS diet containing fenugreek showed a lower body weight gain, energy efficiency ratio and white adipose tissue weight than normal SD rats fed the STD diets. In the groups fed the fenugreek-containing diets, total cholesterol levels in the liver were lower, whereas excretion of total bile acids into the feces was increased. However, fenugreek had no significant effect on glucose tolerance. These results suggest that fenugreek inhibits body weight gain through an increase of lipid excretion into feces, and prevention of lipid accumulation in the liver and white adipose tissue in normal rats.
