Dietary fiber in industrial tomato residue and its effect on glycaemic response and seric cholesterol in rats.

The left over after ketchup sauce is obtained is a tomato residue (RIT) tha t contains skin and seeds. Proximal analysis of the flour of this industria l product reveals that it has 50% dietary fiber, 18% protein and 10% fat. D ue to the high dietary fiber content the effect on glucose absorption and s eric cholesterol was studied. Sprague-Dawley rats were given an intragastri c meal after a 12 hours fast containing 263 g tomato residue flour (RIT)/di et or a control meal (0% RIT) and glucose plasma levels were determined. Re sults show that the presence of RIT in the test meal flattened glucose resp onse curves. Ad lib administration of four diets differing in RIT content t o four groups of rats for 18 days showed that although animals on a high RI T diet ate increased amounts of cholesterol the plasma lipid levels remaine d constant which suggest that the presence of RIT fibre on the diet is resp onsible for this effect. The results reported in this paper suggest that th e dietary fiber of RIT diminishes glucose absorption and reduces seric chol esterol levels, which in turn could be useful in the treatment of NIDD and hipercholesterolaemic patients.