Table 2 showed that functional drink consumption affected
cholesterol significantly in all studies. However drink T2
(drink containing catechins) was more effective in reducing
cholesterol than T3 (drink containing EGCG) though the
differences were non-significant. It is obvious from Table 2
that drinks exhibited non-significant differences on HDL
level, while LDL level in different groups of rats was significantly
affected by functional drinks in all studies. The
values showed non-significant effects of drinks on triglycerides
in trial-I and II but significant differences were
recorded for trial-III and IV. Total cholesterol varied from
74.73 ± 2.34 to 78.64 ± 3.07 mg/dL in normal rats, while
the cholesterol level was higher in all other studies. Moreover,
it can be observed from the results that functional
drink containing catechins was more effective in reducing
the cholesterol level. However, the percentage reduction
was higher in group of rats fed on high cholesterol diet,
and high cholesterol + high sucrose diets. The trend for
high density lipoproteins was opposite to total cholesterol.
However, the increasing tendency as a function of functional
drink was statistically non-significant. The results
regarding low density lipoproteins (LD) indicated that it
varied from 25.55 ± 1.22 to 30.34 ± 1.43 mg/dL in normal
rats, while it was significantly higher in all studies. The
functional drink containing green tea catechins decreased
the trait significantly. However, the reduction was higher in
group of rats fed on high cholesterol diet (30.44%), and
high cholesterol + high sucrose diets (28.81%) in the same
experimental group. In contrast to catechins based functional
drink, the EGCG based functional decreased LDL
significantly but its effect was slightly less as compared to
catechins supplemented group. The triglycerides levels
expressed in mg/dL also varied as a functional of experimental
diets as mentioned earlier. The level for same trait
was lower in normal rats but significantly higher in groups
of rats fed on cholesterol and sucrose or their combination.
The functional drinks decreased the trait significantly.
Functional drinks containing catechins and EGCG reduced
triglycerides by 6.68 and 4.42%, respectively, in rats fed on
high cholesterol diet. Similarly, the same experimental diets
reduced the trait by 11.18 and 3.23%, respectively, in high
sucrose fed rats. However, booth drinks performed equally
better in groups of rats fed high cholesterol and high sucrose
diet together i.e. 12.49 and 10.89% reduction in triglycerides,
respectively.