Beneficial Effects of Pectin in Prevention of Hypercholesterolemia and Increase in Liver Cholesterol in Cholesterol-Fed Rats

Increased plasma and liver cholesterol and liver total lipid induced by cholesterol feeding in the male rat was largely counteracted by the concurrent feeding of either apple pectin or citrus pectin N.F. at a 2.5% level and more so at a 5% level in the diet. Other roughage or bulk-forming materials such as cellulose, agar, sodium alginate, protopectin or calcium silicate, or the pectin derivatives, pectic acid, polygalacturonic acid and galacturonic acid, when fed under comparable conditions, showed no such activity. The cholesterol-lowering effect of pectin was not decreased by the concurrent feeding of 1% of sulfasuxidine and 0.05% of streptomycin in the diet, or when the pectin and cholesterol were fed on alternate days.