Cardiovascular diseases are associated with a chronic state of oxidative stress that is induced by fat accumulation. The current study aims to investigate the potential effects of oral consumption of clove essential oil on the lipid profile, oxidative stress markers and antioxidant enzyme activity, in hypercholesterolemic rats. Two groups of Wistar rats were fed a cholesterol-enriched diet supplemented (CEO) or not (HC) with 4 mg/kg b.w of clove essential oil, for six weeks. A control group (C) was fed a standard diet during the experiment. After six weeks, in clove essential oil treated as compared to untreated hypercholesterolemic rats, daily supplementation with essential oil attenuated serum levels of total cholesterol (-57%), LDL-cholesterol (-28%), triacyglycerols (-26%), total homocysteine (-17%) and 8-Iso-prostaglandin F2α (-39%). Furthermore, TBARS values were decreased in LDL (-37%), liver (-45%) and adipose tissue (-34%). Interestingly, clove essential oil increased respectively thioredoxin reductase activity in liver and adipose tissue by +67% and +66%, respectively. These results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of clove essential oil to reduce dyslipidemia, oxidative stress by increasing the thioredoxin reductase activity.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most widely consumed grain legumes worldwide, and its protein isolates are increasingly used as ingredients in plant-based foods. This study assessed the nutritional quality of a chickpea protein isolate produced from locally grown seeds by alkaline solubilization and isoelectric precipitation and evaluated it in vivo against casein under a high-fat dietary challenge. In total, 30 male Wistar rats were allocated to three weight-matched groups for 28 days: control (20% casein), high-fat diet (HFD, 20% casein plus 20% sheep fat), and HFD with casein replaced by 20% chickpea protein isolate (HFD-CP). No indispensable amino acid determined in the isolate (tryptophan was not analyzed) fell below the FAO/WHO reference pattern. Compared with HFD, HFD-CP lowered body weight gain, adiposity, serum leptin (−29%), total cholesterol (−23%), LDL-cholesterol (−36%), hepatic triglycerides (−26%), hepatic cholesterol (−29%), and serum and hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (−29% and −35%) and increased superoxide dismutase, catalase, lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (+37%), and paraoxonase-1 (+33%) activities (p < 0.05), with no significant difference in energy intake between the high-fat groups. As an ingredient, the isolate therefore retains a high nutritional quality when substituted for an animal protein, supporting its use in the formulation of plant-based foods, although the present design does not allow the observed effects to be assigned to its protein fraction alone.