Effects of Consumption of Caged and Un-Caged Chicken Meat on Ovarian Health of Female Wistar Rats

The caged chicken meat consumption has peaked current days due to its incredible taste and low cost. However, to meet the increasing demand the chickens are reared commercially through feeds and battery cages allowing maximum weight gain and growth in considerably less time. The constituents that are fed to chickens concentrate in the flesh and bring deleterious health outcomes on the consumers. The ill effects account for hyper-lipidemias and imbalance in the steroidal sex hormones may result in the development of cysts in the ovaries with resultant difficulties in reproduction. The present study was done on 75 rats divided randomly in 5 equal groups fed with rat chow, caged chicken meat, uncaged chicken meat, raw spinach and soybean for a period of six weeks. The levels of plasma cholesterol, progestril, estradiol, and androgens were estimated at the end of the experiment. The ovaries of the rats were collected, weighed and histopathologically evaluated for the development of cysts. It was seen that the ovaries of the group treated with caged chicken meat showed increased cholesterol levels, imbalanced steroidal sex hormone levels, increased ovary weight and development of the cysts upon histopathological examination as compared to the rats of other groups in the study.