Short term nutritional and safety evaluation of fenugreek

Antidiabetic properties of fenugreek seeds have been demonstrated in experimental animals as well as in humans. However, its safety has not been investigated. In a short term experiment of 90 days, nutritional and toxicological properties of fenugreek seeds were evaluated in 4 groups of weanling rats. Group I received casein based control diet while diets of experimental groups II, III and IV were supplemented with fenugreek seeds at 5, 10 and 20 g% level respectively. After ninety days of feeding, animals were sacrificed. Food intake, gain in body weight and feed efficiency ratios in both control and experimental groups were found to be similar. There was a negative correlation between fenugreek content of diet and dry matter digestibility (r = -0.8731) as well as protein digestibility (r = -0.7557). Haematological parameters like Hb, PCV and total as well as differential WBC counts were also not different. Activities of liver function enzymes like SCOT, SGPT and serum alkaline phosphatase were essentially the same. Male rats receiving diets with 10 and 20% fenugreek seeds had significantly lower levels of serum cholesterol when compared to animals receiving diets with 0 and 5% fenugreek seeds. Histopathological examination of various tissues revealed no significant changes attributable to the consumption of fenugreek seeds. It is concluded that fenugreek appears to be essentially non-toxic in doses given to rats in this study over a 90 day period.