THE COMPARISON OF EFFECTIVENESS BETWEEN CARROT (DAUCUS CAROTA) AND SIMVASTATIN TO CHANGES IN BLOOD CHOLESTEROL LEVELS OF WHITE RATS (RATTUS NORVEGICUS) WITH HYPERKOLESTEROLEMIA

Abstract

High level blood cholesterol can impact on diseases. Carrot known with high beta carotene able to reduce blood cholesterol levels. The aim of the research was to determine the comparison effectiveness between carrots and simvastatin on cholesterol levels in hypercholesterol rats.  The type of the research was experiments used randomized control-group pretest - post test design. The samples were divided into simvastatin and carrots treatment groups, each of 8 rats. Hypercholesterolemia by administering high-cholesterol diet. Treatment using raw carrots with 1.25cc dose for 3 days. Measurement of cholesterol levels using Touch Essay data analysis with Willcoxon and Mann-Whitney. The results showed decreased cholesterol simvastatin groups as much as 12.5% ​​(P = 0.069> α = 0.05), and the treatment group as much as 37.5% (P = 0.208), but the statistical test showed no effect of carrots on blood cholesterol levels. While the effectiveness of the results between treatment and control group (P = 0528> α = 0.05), indicating no effect to decreased levels of good cholesterol and a control group treated group. No effect on decrease in cholesterol levels could be caused by factors of beta-carotene absorption easier if you boil carrots. Additionally only 3% beta-carotene in raw carrots was released during digestion.