Abstract
The preventive effect of tryptic hydrolysate of milk casein against cardiovascular disease was studied in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). Blood pressure, body weight, brain weight, heart weight, survival rate, incidence of stroke and pathological data after oral administration of the hydrolysate were investigated. An amino acid mixture with the same composition as that of the hydrolysate was given to a control group. Thirty week feeding with the 10% hydrolysate significantly retarded the increase of brain weight due to cerebral edema and the incidence of stroke. In addition, the diet tended to reduce the increase of heart weight due to cardiac hypertrophy caused by hypertension. These results suggest that this tryptic hydrolysate is useful for preventing cardiovascular disease in rats and increasing their survival rate.
