© All Rights Reserved *Corresponding author. Email: kapilas@kln.ac.lk Tel: 94 11 2903263; Fax: 94 11 2903203 International Food Research Journal 18(4): 1303-1308 (2011) 1* Seneviratne, K.N., 1 Kotuwegedara, R.T. and 2 Ekanayake, S 1 Department of Chemistry, University of Kelaniya, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka 2 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medical Sciences University of Sri Jayawardenapura, Nugegoda, Sri Lanka Serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels of rats fed with consumer selected coconut oil blends Abstract: Double blends were prepared by mixing copra oil (CO) with seed oils of Brassica juncea (BO), Madhuca nerifolia (MO) and Sessamum indicum (SO) in different volume proportions. The consumer-acceptable oil blends were selected based on the opinion of a panel of consumers about the palatability and other physical properties of French fries prepared using the oil blends. The effect of the selected oil blends on serum lipid parameters of Wistar rats was examined. The serum levels of total cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides decreased and the serum levels of HDL increased signifcantly in rats fed with selected oil blends, when compared to those fed with coconut oil. The benefcial effects on lipid parameters of the rats fed with the oil blend containing the seed oil of BO (40%) and CO (60%) were closely comparable with those of the rats fed with soybean oil. The results recommended that it could be helpful to prepare essential fatty acid-rich nutritional oil blends based on CO in industrial scale. Keywords: Coconut oil, soybean oil, oil blends, total cholesterol, HDL/LDL, triglycerides Introduction Coconut oil is the main fat of choice in many Asian countries. Apparently, the common method of preparation of coconut oil is by pressing dried coconut kernel. As a result, the oil prepared by this method is known as copra oil. It is well-known that the composition of the saponifable fraction of edible oil has a profound effect on serum lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels (Harris, 1989; Grundy and Denke, 1990; Kris-Etherton and Shaomei, 1997). The results of these studies indicate that saturated fatty acids increase the plasma total cholesterol and LDL- cholesterol concentrations, whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids lower these parameters. Coconut oil contains up to 93% of saturated fatty acids. However, the important feature of coconut oil is that it is responsible for increasing serum HDL cholesterol concentrations more profoundly than other sources of saturated fat (Quig and Zilversmit, 1989; Carlson and Kottke, 1990). One noticeable drawback of coconut oil is due to its low level of essential fatty acids, with the percentage weight of linoleic acid ranging from 1.0 to 2.6 (Dale and Meara, 1955). Therefore, blending coconut oil with other edible oils containing higher percentages of polyunsaturated fatty acids is suggested as a convenient way of improving the essential fatty acid content and associated nutritional and health properties of coconut oil. Blended oils containing coconut oil with groundnut oil or olive oil are proven to be responsible in reducing of LDL oxidation and enhancing hepatic antioxidant enzymes activity in rats (Nagaraju and Belur, 2008). Recent reports also indicate that blending of coconut oil with soybean or sunfower oil improves hypolipidemic effects (Chandrashekar et al., 2010). On the other effort, improvement of the polyunsaturated fatty acid levels by blending soybean oil, sunfower oil and faxseed oil also results in benefcial effects on the serum lipid profles of rats fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet (Ramadan et al., 2009). When the oil blends are prepared, it is important to check the consumer acceptation about such blends formulation. Even though the blending effort of coconut oil with other edible oils has been reported extensively, these studies do not indicate the signifcant information about the consumer feedback especially on the sensory evaluation. In addition to the nutritional properties, the ultimate consumer acceptability of oil blends depends on the organoleptic properties and the physico-chemical properties of food prepared using such oil blends. In order to reduce the cost of production of coconut oil blends, it is also important to use polyunsaturated oils that are easily available in the coconut growing countries. In the present study, sixteen oil blends were prepared with different proportions of coconut oil and three other easily and cheaply available edible oils. The hypolipidemic effects of the consumer selected oil blends among the prepared oil blends were investigated using Wistar rats.