Lipid profile and oxidative stress status in vegetarians

ABSTRACT

To investigate the lipid profile and oxidative stress status in vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Fifty healthy volunteered adults, 25 vegetarians and 25 non-vegetarians [meat eaters] ages 20-50 Years from Babcock University community were recruited for this study. Venous blood sample was collected pre meal and two hours post-prandial for biochemical assay. We assayed for the plasma levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, protein content, superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], glutathione s-transferase [GST], reduced glutathione [GSH]. Data collected were subjected to statistical analysis using the Student's t-test and one way ANOVA with the aid of SPSS for windows version 14.0. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Lipid profile analysis showed non-vegetarians to be significantly higher [P<0.05] in total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol than vegetarians respectively. Plasma protein concentration was significantly higher [P<0.05] in vegetarians [1.23 +/- 0.29; 1.22 +/- 0.18] than non-vegetarians [0.83 +/- 0.09; 0.84 +/- 0.17] in pre and post meal respectively. Furthermore, plasma superoxide dismutase [0.25 +/- 0.72; 0.35 +/- 1.60] and catalase activities [0.04 +/- 0.00; 0.01 +/- 0.27] were significantly reduced [P<0.05] in vegetarians than SOD [0.93 +/- 1.80; 0.63 +/- 1.52] and CAT [0.08 +/- 0.24; 0.02 +/- 0.05] in non-vegetarians in pre and post meal respectively. More so, non-vegetarians expressed a higher level of reduced glutathione [0.05 +/- 0.00] post meal than vegetarians [0.02 +/- 0.00]. Glutathione S-transferase activity was found to be higher in vegetarians [460.28 +/- 44.77] than non-vegetarians [100.61 +/- 79.28] after meal. Vegetarians may have lower lipid and oxidative stress status than non-vegetarians