Effect of Prebiotic Galacto-Oligosaccharides on Serum Lipid Proﬁle of Hypercholesterolemics Arooj Hashmi 1 • Naureen Naeem 1 • Zubair Farooq 1 • Saima Masood 2 • Sanaullah Iqbal 1 • Rahat Naseer 3 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract The present study focused on the role of galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) against the development of hypercholesterolemia. In the current research, GOS syn- thesized from lactose solution were fed to hypercholes- terolemic female Sprague–Dawley rats. Negative control group (G1) was fed on standard basal diet alone. Positive control group (G5) was fed on inulin (154 mg/250 g body weight), while treatment groups G2, G3 and G4 received 110 mg, 154 mg and 198.4 mg/250 g body weight, respectively, of GOS along with high-fat diet for a period of 60 days. Findings from this study revealed that animals belonging to prebiotic GOS (G 2 ,G 3 and G 4 )-fed group showed signiﬁcantly decreased serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and VLDL cholesterol as compared to control group (G 0 ). The groups which were fed on different doses of GOS revealed a signiﬁcant reduction in TC, TG, LDL, and VLDL levels and an increase in HDL level corresponding to the reference group that was fed on inulin, while G 1 negative control group revealed increased levels of TC, TG, LDL and VLDL. In contrast to positive control group G 5 (154 mg inulin), all doses of GOS lowered serum TC, TG and LDL-C and raised HDL-C; however, G 4 (198.4 mg) proved to be more effective. Hence, GOS proved to be supportive in preventing hypercholesterolemia leading cause of cardio- vascular disease and atherosclerosis. This study reported a signiﬁcant reduction of serum TC, TG and LDL-C in female rats for 60 days as compared to control. Conclu- sively, GOS were found to be worthless against hypercholesterolemia. Keywords Prebiotics  Galacto-oligosaccharides  Cholesterol  Triglycerides Introduction Prebiotics are non-digestible food ingredients that selec- tively stimulate the growth of beneﬁcial microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract. They could be used as alternative supplements to exert health beneﬁts, including cholesterol- lowering effects. Past in vivo studies proved administration of GOS to be effective in improving lipid proﬁles, including the reduction in serum/plasma total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, or increment in HDL- cholesterol. Several past studies demonstrated that probi- otics and prebiotics had signiﬁcant effects on lipid proﬁles. Additionally, little information is available on the effective dosage of probiotics and prebiotics needed to exert hypocholesterolemic effects. People affected with hyperc- holesterolemia may avoid the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs by adopting practices such as dietary control or supplementation of prebiotics. Prebiotics are indigestible fermented food substrates that selectively stimulate the growth, composition and activity of microﬂora in gas- trointestinal tract and thus improve host health and well- being. Prebiotics have been used more recently for mod- ulating colonic microﬂora because they are non-expensive, can be incorporated in large variety of food items, can & Naureen Naeem naureen.naeem@uvas.edu.pk 1 Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 2 Department of Anatomy and Histology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 3 Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan 123 Probiotics & Antimicro. Prot. DOI 10.1007/s12602-016-9206-1