Cardamom is a well-known spice in Indian subcontinent, used in culinary and traditional medicine practices since ancient times. The current investigation was untaken to evaluate the potential benefit of cardamom powder supplementation in high carbohydrate high fat (HCHF) diet induced obese rats. Male Wistar rats (28 rats) were divided into four different groups such as Control, Control + cardamom, HCHF, HCHF + cardamom. High carbohydrate and high fat (HCHF) diet was prepared in our laboratory. Oral glucose tolerance test, organs wet weight measurements and oxidative stress parameters analysis as well as liver marker enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities were assayed on the tissues collected from the rats. Plasma lipids profiles were also measured in all groups of animals. Moreover, histological staining was also performed to evaluate inflammatory cells infiltration and fibrosis in liver. The current investigation showed that, HCHF diet feeding in rats developed glucose intolerance and increased peritoneal fat deposition compared to control rats. Cardamom powder supplementation improved the glucose intolerance significantly (p > 0.05) and prevented the abdominal fat deposition in HCHF diet fed rats. HCHF diet feeding in rats also developed dyslipidemia, increased fat deposition and inflammation in liver compared to control rats. Cardamom powder supplementation significantly prevented the rise of lipid parameters (p > 0.05) in HCHF diet fed rats. Histological assessments confirmed that HCHF diet increased the fat deposition and inflammatory cells infiltration in liver which was normalized by cardamom powder supplementation in HCHF diet fed rats. Furthermore, HCHF diet increased lipid peroxidation, decreased antioxidant enzymes activities and increased advanced protein oxidation product level significantly (p > 0.05) both in plasma and liver tissue which were modulated by cardamom powder supplementation in HCHF diet fed rats. HCHF diet feeding in rats also increased the ALT, AST and ALP enzyme activities in plasma which were also normalized by cardamom powder supplementation in HCHF diet fed rats. Moreover, cardamom powder supplementation ameliorated the fibrosis in liver of HCHF diet fed rats. This study suggests that, cardamom powder supplementation can prevent dyslipidemia, oxidative stress and hepatic damage in HCHF diet fed rats.

Background: Nymphaea capensis is an aquatic flowering plant which is included in the family of Nymphaeaceae. Literature review on the plants of Nymphaeaceae family exhibited significant medicinal activities. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to evaluate possible anti-oxidant activity of crude methanol extract of N. capensis leaf.Method: In antioxidant study, methanolic plant extract was evaluated for 1,1-diphenyl,2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and reducing power capacity. Moreover, total phenolic and total flavonoid content of plant extracts were determined and expressed in mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram of dry sample (mg GAE/g dry weight).Result: In the DPPH free radical scavenging assay, methanol extract showed concentration dependent inhibition of the free radicals. IC₅₀ of Ascorbic acid was 14.84 µg/ml whereas N. capensis was 130.94 µg/ml. In case of reducing capacity, at conc. 62.5, 125, 250, 500, 1000 ug/ml, the absorbances of Ascorbic acid were 0.65, 1.12, 1.45, 1.78 and 1.89 respectively. In case of N. capensis, the absorbances were 0.46, 0.75, 1.04, 1.27 and 1.50 respectively. The extract displayed a concentration dependent increase in reducing power. In the case of total phenolic content, the methanol extract of N. capensis contained a considerable amount of phenolic contents which was 215±7 of GAE mg/g. In the case of total flavonoid content, methanol extract of N. capensis contained significant amount of flavonoid contents which was 184.75±6.78 of GAE mg/g.Conclusion: These results suggested that the methanol extract of N. capensis possess considerable anti-oxidant activity.