THE EFFECT OF PTEROCARPUS MILDBRAEDII SEED ON PLASMA HDL CHOLESTEROL OF ALBINO RAT

Thesis Overview

INTRODUCTION1.0 Pterocarpus mildbraedii are trees with edible parts successfully budded, pterocarpus species (P. Soyauxii and P. mildbraedii are reported to have different patterns of leaf flush, one spontaneous and the other intermittent making the first suitable for commercial production and the second the home production (Okafor 1978). Pterocarpus mildbraedii being the major case study both the vegetable and the seeds.The vegetable is majorly used in our various home for cooking. Pterocarpus mildbraedii (Oha seed) are not consumed by the people from the eastern part of Nigeria. So it cannot be majorly stated the content of this oha seed.The demand for vegetable oils as a result of diminishing source of oils and fats creates the needs for new sources as well as exploiting sources that are currently unexploited in order to supplement the existing ones (Minzangi et al. 2011).As industrialists continues to rely mostly on the popular vegetable oil like coconut oil, soybeans oil, groundnut oil, palm oil etc. for the preparation and production of their various products.Plant lipids also possess nutritive value and have an impact on human nutrition and the world economy. More than three quarters of the edible and industrial oils marketed annually are derived from seed and fruit triglycerol (Schimid & Ohlrogge, 2002). Seeds have nutritive and calorific value which makes them necessary in diets. They are good sources of edible oils and fats. The amount of energy provide by 1g of fat and oil when fully digested is more than twice as many joules of protein and carbohydrate do. Fats makes meals more satisfying, enrich its flavor and delay the onset of hunger (Odoemelan, 2005). Unfortunately, insufficient availability of animal protein and the costliness of available plant protein sources have also increased the need for research on revealing lesser known under-utilized legumes and oil seeds of nutritive value (Schimid & Ohlrogge, 2002).