• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1175-1181
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of green vegetable (kale) juice powder supple-mentation on lipid profiles, plasma homocysteine, folate and vitamin $B_{12}$ in rats fed cholesterol (Chol. ) or Chol. free diet. 7-week old male Sprague Dawley rats (n=40) were divided into 4 groups, and experimental diets containing control diet group (CO), control diet plus 0.5 wt$ \% $ Chol. (CC), control diet added with 5 wt$ \% $ kale (KO), control diet added with 5 wt$ \% $ kale plus 0.5 wt$ \% $ Chol. (KC) were fed for 8 wks. Plasma homocysteine level was examined by amino acid analyzer and serum folate and vitamin $B_{12}$ level were measured by com-petitive radioimmunoassay methods. In various serum lipid profiles, TG level was lower in kale juice powder groups (KO, KC) compared to the corresponding groups (CO, CC) (p<0.001). In Chol. supplemented groups (CC, KC), HDL-Chol. level was lower (p<0.001) and LDL-Chol. level was higher (p<0.05) than Chol. free diet. HDL-Chol. level was higer (p<0.05) in kale juice powder groups. HDL/LDL ratio was lower in Chol. supplemented groups (CC, KC) and tended to be higher in kale juice powder groups (KO, KC) Serum folate and vitamin $B_{12}$ levels were not affected by dietary Chol. and kale juice powder supplementation. Plasma homocysteine level was not affected by dietary Chol. and kale juice powder supplementation, too. Serum folate level was positively correlated with serum vitamin $B_{12}$ level (r=0.5632, p<0.001), but plasma homocysteine level was not significantly correlated with any serum folate, vitamin $B_{12}$ and Chol. levels, respectively. In summary, kale juice powder supplementation have improved serum lipid profiles by increasing the HDL level and decreasing the TG level and have not altered homocysteine level under the sufficient supply of folate and vitamin B complex relating with the homocysteine metabolism.