Abstract
The plasma cholesterol lowering effect of dehydrofrozen soybean curd and a soybean product, Yuba, which are traditional Japanese soybean products, was studied. Young adult male rats of Wistar strain were fed for 6 weeks on the hypercholesterolemic diet (control) containing 1% of cholesterol, 10% of lard, 5% of soybean oil and 20% of total protein and the diets supplemented with 20% of dehydrofrozen soybean curd which found to contain 50.6% of protein and 30.1% of lipid, and 20% of Yuba, which found to contain 49.6% of protein and 22.3% of lipid. As the results, the plasma cholesterol was reduced to 88% of the control group with the addition of dehydrofrozen soybean curd and to 89% of the control with Yuba. By increasing the amounts of addition, the plasma cholesterol was reduced to 79% with 30% of the dehydrofrozen soybean curd, and to 73% of the control with the addition of 8.5% of the lipid extract of the soybean curd in equivalent amount contained in 30% of the soybean curd. The results confirmed that the Japanese soybean foods, dehydrofrozen soybean curd and “Yuba, ” are effective in lowering of the plasma cholesterol of the rats fed on the hypercholesterolemic diet, and the effect is mainly with the lipid fraction of the soybean.
