Several different drugs are used for reduction of blood lipids in hyperlipidemic patients which are associated with side effects. This study investigated the effect of aqueous cumin extract on serum lipids of hyperlipidemic rat. This study is performed on 40 male adult Wister rats (200-250 g). The animals were randomly assigned to five groups: receivers of standard food, high cholesterol food with cumin extract simultaneously, high cholesterol treated with normal saline, high cholesterol treated with lovastatin, and high cholesterol treated with cumin extract. At the end, serum samples were collected and lipids were measured by routine methods. Data analyses were performed with SPSS and through application of ANOVA and Tukey tests. P<0.05 was considered as significant. Data analyses showed that the consumption of aqueous cumin extract was able to significantly reduce the levels of Tri-glyceride, cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein compared to hyperlipidemic group. In addition, the simultaneous uptake of cumin extract and high cholesterol food prevented occurrence of hyperlipidemia among subjects. Furthermore, the level of high-density lipoprotein was significantly increased after consumption of cumin extract in comparison with the hyperlipidemic group. The prescription of cumin extract led to a significant reduction in LDL/HDL and Cholesterol/HDL ratios. In this study, the consumption of cumin extract has shown to have preventive and therapeutic effects in of dyslipidemia among hyperlipidemic animals and these effects are comparable with effects of lovastatin. Therefore, further studies are required to determine the mechanism for the effect of cumin.
