Abstract:

The objective of this research was to evaluate the hypolipidemic effect of functional foods consisting of dietary
fiber from edible seaweeds (DFES) as the major ingredient and different proportions of the aqueous extracts of hawthorn,
Herba Gynostemmatis Pentaphylli and Rhizoma Alismatis as the auxiliary ingredients. According to the method for assessing
the assisting effect of dietary supplements on blood lipid reduction published by the Chinese Ministry of Health, male
Kunming mice were used to establish an animal model of hyperlipidemia by feeding a high fat diet. The model mice were
divided randomly into model control group and experimental groups with oral administration of high-, medium- and lowdose
DFES, formulations Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ, and simvastatin, respectively for 4 weeks. Both normal control and model control
groups were given normal saline. The levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein
cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and the pathological change of liver were detected at
the end of the experiment. The results showed that DFES could significantly decrease the levels of TC, TG, and LDL-C
and increase the levels of HDL-C in the serum of hyperlipidemia mice. The serum lipid levels of hyperlipidemia mice
administered with DFES and medicinal herbal extracts together were closer to those of normal mice, suggesting that their
combinations can effectively reduce serum lipid levels in hyperlipidemia mice.

Key words: seaweeds, dietary fiber, mice, hypolipidemic, total cholesterol, triglycerides