Twelve normolipidic healthy human subjects were fed a diet with or without additional soybean phytosterols for 4 weeks in a crossover design. The order of the treatments was randomized. Phytosterols were added to the diet blended in butter. The dietary ratio cholesterol:phytosterols was 0.7 during the control period (436 mg cholesterol/day and 29 mg phytosterols/day) and 1.88 during the phytosterols period (410 mg cholesterol/day and 740 mg phytosterols/day). Blood cholesterol was 10% lower after subjects consumed the phytosterol-enriched diet than when they consumed the control diet (p < 0.001), which was due to a 15 % LDL cholesterol decrease (p < 0.001). The HDL cholesterol:LDL cholesterol ratio was markedly enhanced (+25%) (p < 0.01). These findings suggest that a significant lowering of plasma total and LDL cholesterol can be effected by a modest dietary intake of soybean phytosterols.

Many neurons in the caudal nucleus tractus solitarii (NTS) recorded in vivo respond to moderate glycemic fluctuations through the local action of glucose molecules. To investigate this sensitivity in vitro, the extracellular activity of 112 neurons was recorded in hindbrain slices: 57 changed in firing rate when the glucose level in the bathing medium was increased by 2 mM. Since the glucose-responding neurons were located in catecholaminergic regions and depressed by the alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist clonidine, they were likely to be adrenergic or noradrenergic. A comparison of the responses to glucose and 2-deoxy-D-glucose suggested that the bioenergetic metabolism is involved in NTS sensitivity to glucose.

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