Novel tocotrienols of rice bran modulate cardiovascular disease risk parameters of hypercholesterolemic humans

Tocotrienols inhibit cholesterol synthesis by post-transcriptionally suppressing β-hydroxy-β-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase activity. A double blind, 12-week study was performed to investigate the effect of a novel tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF25; obtained by molecular distillation from specially processed rice bran oil) on cardiovascular disease risk factors of hypercholesterolemic human subjects (serum total cholesterol >5.69 mmol/L). After acclimation to an alcohol-free regimen (baseline) participants were assigned to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) Step-1 diet (saturated fat