LAUSR

The aim of the study was to determine the physiological indices of laboratory rats as a response to a diet consisting of a bread supplemented with freeze-dried water extracts of raw and roasted cocoa beans of Forastero variety. The influence of different cocoa extracts on oxidative stress, hyperglycemia, and lipid metabolism was studied during long-term feeding of laboratory rats with bread supplemented with cocoa extracts. During the 4-week experimental feeding samples of rats feces were subjected to analysis and after its completion, biological samples were collected i.e. intestines content, blood, and organs retrieved individually from each rat. The observed changes indicate the biological activity of polyphenol extracts and other components of cocoa beans present in the prepared extracts. The differences in the results obtained for the analyzed parameters of the gastrointestinal tract revealed that the cocoa bean extracts being the subject of this investigation differently affected the physicochemical properties of rats' intestines, including intestinal microflora. The results show the influence of the diet on the activity of both fecal and cecal enzymes. Applied nutrition treatment varied the concentration and total production of volatile fatty acids in the cecum. Furthermore, the diverse composition of the applied diet affected the level of some biochemical indicators of blood serum of rats. Additionally, to a small extent influenced the analyzed indicators of the antioxidative status of rats as characterized by the concentration of substances reacting with thiobarbituric acid in internal organs.