CHARACTERISATION OF TELFAIRIA OCCIDENTALIS, CELOSIA ARGENTIA AND AMARANTHUS HYBRIDUS AND THEIR EFFECTS ON INDUCED HYPERLIPIDEMIA IN WISTER RATS

Abstract

Hyperlipidemia refers to a group of inherited and acquired illnesses in which the body's lipid levels are abnormally high. Obesity prevalence ranges from 8.1% to 22.2% in Nigeria, with overweight individuals ranging from 20.3% to 35.1%. In Nigeria, twelve million persons were estimated to be obese by 2020, with the prevalence of obesity being significantly greater among women. Being a medical disorder, it is associated with metabolic dysfunction. The actual causes of metabolic syndrome may be many, but researchers lean toward insulin resistance as the underlying problem. Overweight people tend to develop a resistance to insulin -- a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Leafy vegetable in general have been reported to showed therapeutic effect in annulling the comorbidities associated with hyperlipidemia. This study was therefore aimed at evaluating the ameliorative effect of diets formulated with three different leafy vegetables (Telfairia occidentalis, Celosia argentia and Amaranthus hybridus) on hyperlipidemia, a metabolic dysfunction associated with induced obesity in female wistar rats. The phytoconstituents of the vegetables were quantified and the active compounds were identified with Gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Thirty-five female rats were completely randomized into 7 groups (I – VII), with three treatment groups, normal feed as the negative control and a reference drug as the positive control. Effect of continued feeding with high-fat-diet was also observed. All the vegetable based formulated diets had significant effect on weight loss. However, Telfairia occidentalis had the highest significant effect on weight loss and reproductive hormone. Drug had a significant regression in the serum level compared to other treatments; there was significant decrease in HFD+ugwu. In conclusion, the formulated feeds had an ameliorative effect on metabolic dysfunctions associated with hyperlipidemia in rats and can therefore be explored in the management of obesity and other diseases related to it.