Response of rats to intake of tofu treated under high-pressure

Abstract

As searching continues for an answer as to how products treated under HP could affect the health of human beings, this work has focused on the differences between three types of diets (control, untreated and treated tofu under HP) on a total of 30, 12-week-old, Wistar Hannover female rats. Different assays were carried out and the results showed that the increase in body-weight in the rats fed with tofu diets was significantly lower (P ≤ 0.05) than control, but no significant differences were found between both tofu diets. The weights of the organs of rats (liver, spleen and kidneys) fed with both tofu diets were lower than control rats, but were lowest in those fed with a treated tofu diet. The concentration of metal ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, Zn2+ and Fe2) in the serum in both tofu diets showed an increase in magnesium, potassium and iron, but iron increased more in the treated tofu diet. No differences were found in the shear-force of shinbone. The concentration of glucose, total proteins and albumin decreased and uric acid, bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase increased in rats fed with tofu diets as compared to control rats. Alkaline phosphatase activity was significantly elevated in both tofu diets and a significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) was found between both tofu diets. Cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were lower in animals fed with tofu diets and significant differences were found in total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol between control and tofu diets. The triglycerides and HDL-phospholipids were also lower in the tofu diets. The final results revealed that, in general, it seems that tofu treated under high pressure is not harmful to health. However, some significant differences occurred in rats fed with both tofu diets in comparison to the control diet, but only the activity of alkaline phosphatase presented significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) between untreated and treated tofu diets. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer Reviewe