The cholesterol-lowering effect of plant sterol-containing beverage in hypercholesterolemic subjects with low cholesterol intake

We investigated the effect of a beverage containing plant sterols on serum concentrations of triacylglycerol and cholesterol of hypercholesterolemic subjects that consume a low cholesterol diet. Fifty three hypercholesterolemic subjects (fasting LDL-cholesterol > 130 mg/dl) were fed a placebo beverage for 4 weeks followed by feeding a test beverage containing plant sterols for 8 weeks in a single-blind, randomized cross-over study. The subjects were instructed to maintain the same amount of dietary intake of fat and cholesterol during the study. After 4 weeks of treatment with a beverage containing of 1.6 g/d of plant sterols, subjects whose concentrations of LDL-cholesterol did not decrease by 15% received 3.2 g/d of plant sterols. The total study population who completed the whole protocol was 45 subjects (15 males, 30 females, average age 56). At baseline, the average dietary daily intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol were relatively low with 11.12 g and 135.2 mg, respectively. After 8 week treatment with plant sterols, serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol were decreased significantly by 4.38% (p < 0.05), 8.28% (p < 0.05) respectively. However, concentrations of HDL-cholesterol and triacylglycerol did not change significantly. We conclude that a beverage containing plant sterols decrease serum total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations significantly in subjects with relatively low dietary cholesterol intake.