Effects of Ethanol Extract of Onion on the Lipid Profiles in Patients with Hypercholesterolemia

ABSTRACT

It is known that onion increases antioxidative and antibiotic capacity, and decreases blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The study was carried out to investigate whether ethanol extract of onion can enhance blood lipid profiles in hypercho-lesterolemic patients. Fourty three hypercholesterolemic patients were randomly divided into 2 groups ;25 in controls and 18 in experimental group. The control group was offered to take placebo for 4 weeks (200 ml/day ), and experimental group was offered to consume ethanol extract of onion for 8 weeks (200 ml/day that corresponds to 500 g of onion ). There were no differences in sex, age, body mass index (BMI )and educational levels between groups before treatment. After 8 weeks of onion extract consumption, plasma triglycerides level was significantly decreased in experimental group com-pared to control (p < 0.05 ). Total cholesterol level was tended to decrease in experimental group, but there was no sig-nificant difference of change between control and experimental group. The levels of plasma glucose and LDL-cholesterol were not changed significantly after onion extract consumption. In summary, alcohol extract of onion may have a positive effect on the lipid profiles of hypercholesterolemia patients through decreasing plasma triglyceride concentration.