THE EFFECT OF VITAMIN E AND FOLIC ACID ON GLUCOSE METABOLISM IN RATS TREATED WITH COMBINED ORAL CONTRACEPTIVES

Abstract

Background: To study the effect of vitamin E (VE) and
folic acid (FA) supplementation on glucose metabolism in
rats administered combined oral contraceptive (OC) with
ethinyl estradiol and norgestrel as active components.
Methodology: Twenty adult female rats (Rattus
norvegicus) weighing between 120-240g were randomly
grouped into groups I – IV of five rats per group. Group I
served as control while groups II, III and IV were given
calculated dosage of 0.667 mg/kg body weight OC only,
0.667 mg/kg body weight OC + 15 mg/kg body weight VE
and 0.667 mg/kg body weight OC + 1 mg/kg body weight
FA respectively for fifteen days.
Results: The results showed that VE and most especially
FA significantly (p<0.05) lowered the blood glucose level
in VE and FA treated rats compared to the OC treated
rats. Enzymes activities such as glucose-6-phosphate
dehydrogenase in the blood and liver increased
significantly (p<0.05) in FA treated rats while the
disaccharidase, maltase showed a marked significant
(p<0.05) increase in VE and FA treated rats compared to
controls.
Conclusion: Therefore, FA was seen to increase the
metabolic utilization of glucose which may reduce the risk
of development of type 2 diabetes that may arise after the
use of oral contraceptives whereas VE has a mild but not
significant effect.