role of lactoferrin supplementation of infant formulas on some physiological and biological parameters in rats

This research was conducted to assess the role of different levels of lactoferrin supplementation in rats diet upon some physiological and biological parameters over four weeks of feeding course. The results could be summerized as follow: 1- Body weight gain, Food intake and Protein efficiency ratio [PER] were increased by increasing the levels of lactoferrin supplementation in the diet. 2- There were slight increase by increasing the levels of lactoferrin on kidney weight and spleen weight, while there was decrease in liver weight by the increasing of lactoferrin level. 3- There was no effect of lactoferrin on creatinine level or serum urea. 4- The results showed that [AST], [ALT] and [ALP] enzymes were increased by the increasing of lactoferrin levels, while total cholesterol, plasma triglycerides and phospholipids were decreased by increasing of lactoferrin but there was increase in HDL-Cholesterol compared with control. 5- There were decrease in liver total cholesterol, triglyceride, phospholipids and HDL-cholesterol by increase of lactoferrin levels in the diet compared with control. 6- Concerning serum minerals, there were increase in serum Ca, phosphorus, Mg, Iron, ferritin and serum Zinc levels, by the increasing of lactoferrin levels. 7- All of ingested bovine lactoferrin levels had no effect on the glycemic state of all examined rats. 8- Level of hemoglobin increased by increasing lactoferrin levels in the diet. The same finding about hematocrite

Antidiabetic influence of dietary silymarin in streptozotoncin induced diabetic rats

Silymarin was examined for a possible anti-diabetic influence in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. A period of eight weeks dietary regimen containing silymarin powder [1.25%] was found to be remarkably beneficial, as indicated by reduction in hyperglycaemia and glucosuria in diabetic rats fed silymarin-supplemented diet. This was also accompanied by slight improvement in body weights of diabetic animals kept on the silymarin diet. Dietary silymarin also countered other metabolic alterations as revealed by lowering blood urea level and reducing excretions of urea and creatinine of diabetic animals. Our obtained results indicated also that incorporation of silymarin did not change the daily food intake by all of examined four rat groups. In addition, urine volume over the experimental period was a progressive decreased in diabetic rat supplemented with silymarin than control diabetic rats fed silymarin-free diet. Also, plasma albumin, urea and creatinine were significantly countered [P<0.01] by silymarin feeding in diabetic rats rather than control diabetic group

Effect of dietary phytoestrogen; genistein; an improvement of the immunity and other biochemical indices of alloxan-induced diabetic rats

This study was set performed to investigate the effect of feeding alloxan-induced diabetic rats with experimental diets containing genistein at different levels [2.5, 5.0, 10.0 and 20.0 mg/kg diet] on serum glucose level, lipid profile, immunoglobulins [IgG, IgM and IgA], T-lymphocytes CD+4 and CD+8, potential hepatic and renal antioxidant activity as well as body weight gain and daily food intake. The study concluded that dietary genistein displays a range of physiological functions, which may be of multiple health benefits in diabetes, as an inhibitor of intestinal glucose uptake and preventive agent for glucose-induced lipid peroxidation