Assessment of groundnut milk intake on nutritional status and some biochemical indices of normal rats

Abstract

Groundnut milk also known as peanut milk, is an increasingly popular based beverage that serves as a potential alternative to cow’s milk. It is rich in essential nutrients such as proteins, healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals but limited research has explored its effect on nutritional status and biochemical indices. Therefore, this study assessed the effect of groundnut milk intake on nutritional status and some biochemical indices of Wistar rats. The Wistar rats (n=20), with body weight ≤50g were randomly divided into four groups of five rats each: Group 1 served as control. Groups 2, 3, and 4 were administered groundnut milk at daily doses of 247.2, 494.3, and 988.6 mg/kg respectively for eight weeks. Significant increase in abdominal circumference (P<0.005) between groups was observed. However, increase in the BMI and thoracic circumference between groups were insignificant (P>0.05). The levels of TC, TG and LDL-c were decreased significantly (P<0.005). However, HDL-c showed no significant difference. The decrease in atherogenic index, atherogenic coefficient and cardiac risk ratio indices were insignificant (P>0.05). The groundnut milk had no effect on serum total protein, adiponectin, and albumin while it increased serum leptin level significantly (P<0.005). The blood glucose levels of group 2, 3 and 4 were lowered dose-dependently (P<0.005) compared to the control. Groundnut milk showed no effect on liver and kidney-to-body weight ratio (P>0.05), but showed effect on heart-to-body weight ratio (P<0.005). The ratio of food and water intake of groups 2, 3, and 4 decreased significantly (P<0.005) compared to the control group. The results revealed that groundnut milk could play a positive role nutritionally and positively influence lipid profile, glucose, and leptin levels in a dose-related manner.