Harjit Kaur Bajwa, Anita Rana and Abha Vashistha

This study was designed to evaluate the effect of fresh and processed shoots of Dendrocalamus hamiltonii (Nees & Arn Ex Munro) on the body weight and lipid profile in healthy male Balb/c mice with a view to providing preliminary information toward effective utilization of processed shoots in developing safe functional foods and nutraceuticals. Aqueous extracts of fresh and different processed bamboo shoots were administered orally to the Balb/c mice (n=6 in each group) at the dose levels of 800 mg/kg, body weight for six successive weeks. Levels of serum total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoproteins (HDL), low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and triglyceride (TG) were measured by using commercially available standard kits. The level of total cholesterol, triglyceride and low-density lipoproteins decreased significantly in all the groups with highest decrease in the group treated with fermented shoots (TC: 30%, TG: 48%, LDL: 62%) when compared with the control group. Fermented shoots also caused 6% decrease in the body weight of the mice. Hence, it was concluded that fermented shoots may be an effective way to tackle dyslipidemia and probably obesity which is a highly prevalent problem of the modern world and also a leading cause of cardiovascular diseases.

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