Studies on Hypocholesterolemic and Antidiabetic Activity of Capsicum annuum Linn on Diet Induced Obese Rats

Herbal drugs constitute a major part in all traditional system of medicine. Researchers have no doubt thatnature is still the preeminent synthetic chemist and that in plants, particularly; there are almost infinite reserves of chemicalconstituents with actual and potential effects on human body. The herb Capsicum annuum is a culinary herb and its twopharmacological properties i.e. lipid lowering and antidiabetic activity are unexplored. This research paper focuses onhypocholesterolemic and antidiabetic property of capsaicinoids and its further use as an antiobese drug. ExperimentalWork: Wister strain of albino rats were divided into four groups comprising of six rats each. Group I served as normalcontrol fed with normal pellet chow, group II served as disease control fed with high fat diet /diabetogenic diet, group IIIand IV animals, received capsaicinoids and standard drug (Atorvastatin / metformin) respectively. The study was carriedout for a period of 9 weeks for hypocholesterolemic and 11weeks for antidiabetic activity. Results: Administration of HFDor diabetogenic diet for stipulated days to rats significantly increased the body weight, serum total cholesterol, LDLcholesterol, VLDL cholesterol, triglycerides and glucose levels; and decreased HDL cholesterol as compared to normalcontrol. Treatment with capsaicinoids/ atorvastatin showed a significant reduction in the body weight gain, and the levelsof serum triglycerides, total, LDL, VLDL cholesterol and increase in HDL cholesterol . However capsaicinoids not onlysignificantly reduced the cholesterol levels but also reduced the glucose levels which were due to dyslipidemia whencompared with the standard. This was true with antidiabetic activity where the blood serum profiles reduced along withglucose levels