Hypolipidemic effects of lipid-lowering granulated tea preparation from Monascus-fermented grains (adlay and barley bran) mixed with lotus leaves on Sprague-Dawley rats fed a high-fat diet

- Monascus-fermented grains were prepared with adlay and barley bran as new substrates.
- Box-Behnken experimental design was used to optimize Monascus-fermented grains.
- Lipid-lowering granulated tea was enriched with bioactive mevinolins (natural statins).
- The hypolipidemic effect of lipid-lowering granulated tea on rats fed a high-fat diet was studied.
- Lipid-lowering granulated tea exerted beneficial effects on serum and hepatic lipids, as well as on intestinal environment.

In this study, we used adlay and barley bran as substrates to prepare Monascus-fermented grains and discussed the optimum conditions for monacolin K production. Box-Behnken design results showed that the predicted maximum monacolin K yield (112.649 mg/kg) was close to the experimental value (110.556 ± 17.17 mg/kg) under optimum conditions (fermentation temperature, 28.76 °C; inoculation amount, 7.81%; and solid substrate concentration, 38.75 g/250 mL). We investigated the hypolipidemic effects of the lipid-lowering granulated tea preparation from Monascus-fermented grains (adlay and barley bran) mixed with lotus leaves enriched with bioactive mevinolins (natural statins) in hyperlipidemic rats for 7 weeks. Results showed that the lipid-lowering granulated tea decreased the body weight gain, serum total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels, atherogenic index, and liver TC and TG levels. The preparation also increased the cecal weight, surface area, and content weight, as well as the concentrations of butyric acid. Furthermore, the preparation affected the intestinal microbiota and the liver.