Effect of soy milk and bifidobacterium-fermented soy milk on plasma and liver lipids in ovariectomized syrian hamsters

The effects of soy milk and fermented soy milk on lipid metabolism were stud-ied in ovariectomized Syrian hamsters. Five mo-old Syrian hamsters were randomly as-signed to four treatment groups: ovariectomized (OVX)+control diet (OVX-C); OVX+soy milk diet (OVX-SM); OVX+fermented soy milk diet (OVX-FSM); and sham-operated+con-trol diet (Sham-C). The hamsters were fed on these diets for 4 wk. The atherogenic index value of the OVX-FSM group was lower than that of the OVX-C group. The plasma triglyc-eride level of the OVX-FSM group was significantly lower than that of the OVX-C group. The liver total cholesterol contents in the OVX-SM and OVX-FSM groups were significantly lower than that in the OVX-C group. Thus, these results demonstrate that bifidobacterium-fermented soy milk had a hypolipidemic effect in ovariectomized hamsters.