Abstract:
The fruit pulp of all 4 main types of Palmyrah (Borassus flabellifer L.,J has been
previously shown to have a significant hypocholesterolaemic effect in ICR mice.
Beta-sitosterol. the parent sterol of flabelliferins, is known to reduce cholesterol
uptake but is not present in fresh PFP and these studies indicate that it cannot be
formed in the small intestine. In-vivo and In-vitro studies show that colonic bacteria
can hydrolyse flabelliferins but this is not a significant source of absorbable p-
Sitiosterol. Hydrolysis offlabelliferins with nariginase to shorten the carbohydrate
moiety results in no significant differences in serum cholesterol on feeding to mice
compared to the non-hydrolysed PFP (P=0.78) showing that small carbohydrate
chain flabelliferins cannot mimic p-sitoserol action in lowering cholesterol
absorption. The study of dietary fibre of 4 types of PFP show that content is high
(12.3-24.3% dryweign) but variable as is the ratio of soluble and insoluble dietary
fibre. The bile salt content offaeces of mice fed on 10% PFP feed measured using
enzymatic colorimetric assay results in significantly higher bile salts (67%)
compared to the control in faeces. (p=0.0009).
