Effects of pructooligosaccharide on cholesterol metabolism in finishing pigs

Objective: To study the effects of dietary fructooligosaccharide (FOS) on cholesterol metabolism in finishing pigs. Methods: A total of 96 finishing pigs (Duroc×Landrance×Jia) were randomly alotted to four groups each of which was replicated three times with eight pigs per replicate. The groups received the same basal corn-soybean meal diet and FOS was added to the basal diet at 0,0.5%,1 0%,1.5% at the expense of corn, respectively. At the end of the feeding trial, eight pigs with similar body weights from each treatment were slaughtered. Results: (1) Supplementation with FOS significantly improved average daily gain and feed efficiency. (2) Pigs fed 1.0% and 1.5% FOS had significantly lower serum TC and LDL-C concentrations and greater HDL-C/LDL-C ratio compared with the control. Pigs fed 1.5% FOS had significantly lower serum VLDL-C and ApoB concentrations and Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio. (3) Supplementation with 1.0% and 1.5% FOS significantly decreased the activities of HMG-CoA reductase. (4) Supplementation with 1.5% FOS significantly increased the colonic acetate and butyrate and plasma acetate. Supplementation with 0.5%,1.0% and 1.5% FOS significantly increased colonic propionate. (5) Fecal cholesterol excretion was significantly greater in the pigs fed 1.0% and 1.5% FOS and fecal bile acid excretion was significantly greater in the pigs fed 1.5% FOS than the control. Conclusion: FOS may improve cholesterol metabolism by alteration in the absorption and synthesis of cholesterol resulted from the changes in colonic fermentation, and by increase in the fecal excretion of cholesterol and bile acid.