Effect of cow and sheep milk diet on plasma lipids in rats

Hypercholesterolaemia is a major risk factor associated with coronary heart diseases and investigation on the reducing blood cholesterol level is a major concern. The current study aims to evaluate the effects of different diets with sheep and cow milk on the triglyceride (TG) and cholesterol level of rats. The rats were divided in three groups and all of them were fed same dry food as pellets. Their drink was water for the control group but sheep and cow milk for the experimental groups lasting for four weeks. The results of the study showed insignificant difference in the plasma total cholesterol (TC) content of the rats among the three groups. However, the sheep milk diet resulted in lower TG than the cow milk diet (p<0.05) but the cow milk diet, on the other hand, showed the most increasing effect on High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) (p<0.001) and accordingly, the least amount of Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) In sum, both sheep and cow milk have no hypercholesterolaemic effect, but have various effects on TG and lipoproteins that might be beneficial in hypertriglyceridemia and help to reduce atherogenic index, respectively.