Dietary kudzu root extract supplementation improves glucose tolerance and plasma lipid profiles in Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (SHR) fed a basal, but not high, NaCl diet

The extract of Pueraria lobota (kudzu) root improves cardiovascular function and reduces mortality and morbidity in estrogen‐depleted female SHR. In the present study we tested the hypothesis that chronic dietary kudzu root extract also improves glucose handling and lipid profiles in this model. Female SHR were ovariectomized and maintained on a polyphenol‐free 1% NaCl diet with or without the addition of 0.2% kudzu root extract for 3 months. Thereafter, glucose tolerance was measured and plasma collected for lipid profiling. Dietary kudzu root extract significantly improved plasma glucose responses to the oral glucose challenge. The kudzu extract also lowered levels of APO‐E bound HDL and reduced the bound/unbound HDL ratio. In rats, HDL is the prominent cholesterol, and binding with APO‐E targets HDL for degradation. In contrast, in SHR fed a high (4%) NaCl diet the kudzu extract had no effect on glucose handling, although baseline glucose levels were significantly lower in the kudzu fed group. The high salt diet similarly increased all lipids to about the same level in treated and control rats, although plasma VLDL levels were lower in the kudzu group. These data suggest that chronic dietary kudzu supplementation exerts beneficial effects on glucose handling and lipid profiles in estrogen‐depleted female SHR on a basal salt diet. However, the high salt diet appears to eliminate the positive effects of dietary kudzu.