Body Weight, Hematological and Biochemical Parameters of Wistar Albino Rats Fed with Chia Seed Concentrate

Abstract

Chia seeds are among commonly used natural remedies to control obesity, diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases. A research was conducted to evaluate the effects of chia seeds on Body weights, hematological parameters, blood glucose, and lipid profiles in Wistar rats. In the current study, Wistar rats were fed on chia seed powder mixed with broiler chicken feed mash at concentrations of 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20%. Body weights, hematological parameters, blood glucose, and lipid profiles were monitored for 28 days. Results indicate that for the treated groups, there was significant increase in white blood cell (WBC) count and lymphocytes in a dose dependent manner (R2 = 0.87; p = 0.032). Plasma glucose and lipid profiles also decreased significantly in an dose dependent manner, whereby, for glucose, group 4 rats-decreased from 138.5 ± 0.8 to 80.3 ± 12.9 mg/dL from day 0 to day 28 of treatment. The results show no significant difference on weight gain in chia treated groups compared to control group. There were no significant variations in the other hematological parameters. In conclusion, findings in this study illustrated that chia seeds can be the good candidate for controlling blood glucose, lipid profiles and improving hematological parameters and also body weight in animals.