The trend of cardiovascular diseases is highly prevalent in our population. A diet comprising of nutrients that would control hypertension as well as hyperlipidemia would be very beneficial over all. The current study was designed to evaluate the effect of lyophilized beet root powder at different doses on lipid profile. Besides that model of hyperlipidemia was also created to observe the effect of beet root on the disease. The study was carried out on albino rabbits weighing 1500-2000gms. The animals were administered beetroot powder at 500mg/kg and 1000mg/kg doses and after one month dosing the blood samples were withdrawn and assessed for lipid profile. Next a model of hyperlipidemia was created which comprised of albino rabbits weighing 1500-2000gms. They were divided into 4 groups each containing 6 animals. Group I was taken as control and administered distill water, Group II was considered as Negative control and given distill water + cholesterol rich diet, Group III and IV were taken as treated and administered beetroot 500mg/kg+ cholesterol rich diet and beetroot 1000mg/kg+ cholesterol rich diet. Blood samples were drawn at baseline, 45 th day and at day 60 th of study. Highly significant decrease in lipid profile was observed by both doses after one month. Similarly highly significant decrease in Cholesterol, LDL, TGS and VLDL was observed by both doses. Whereas HDL level was highly significantly increased especially at 1000mg/kg. The lipid lowering potential of beet root was due to presence of saponins and flavanoids. From our study we came to conclude that beetroot powder dose dependently reduced the lipid profile and could be beneficial in treatment of cardiovascular disease due to atherosclerosis and obesity. Our published study has already shown the diuretic activity of beet root so it would be beneficial for hypertension too.

Keywords: Beetroot, flavonoids, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and saponins.

Abbreviations: LDL: low density lipoprotein; HDL: high density lipoprotein; TGS: triglycerides; VLDL: very low density lipoprotein.