Safety aspects and cholesterol-lowering efficacy of low fat dairy products containing plant sterols

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate whether a plant sterol mixture would reduce serum cholesterol when added to low fat dairy products in subjects with hypercholesterolaemia, and to examine the effects of the mixture on the serum plant sterol and fat-soluble vitamin levels. Design: A parallel, double-blind study. Setting: The study was performed in three different locations in Finland. Subjects: In total, 164 mildly or moderately hypercholesterolaemic subjects participated in the study. Methods: The subjects were randomly divided into two groups: a plant sterol group and a control group. The subjects consumed the products for 6 weeks after a 3-week run-in period. The targeted plant sterol intake was 2 g/day in the sterol group. Results: During the treatment period, there was a 6.5% reduction in serum total cholesterol in the sterol group while no change was observed in the control group (Po0.0005). Serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was reduced by 10.4% in the sterol group and by 0.6% in the control group (Po0.00005). There was no change during the trial in serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol or triacylglycerol concentrations. The HDL/LDL cholesterol ratio increased by 16.1% in the sterol group and by 4.3% in the control group (P ¼ 0.0001). Serum plant sterol levels increased significantly (P ¼ 0.0001) in the sterol group. None of the fat-soluble vitamin levels decreased significantly when changes in serum total cholesterol were taken into account. The hypocholesterolaemic effect of sterol administration was not influenced by apolipoprotein E phenotype. Conclusions: Yoghurt, low-fat hard cheese and low-fat fresh cheese enriched with a plant sterol mixture reduced serum cholesterol in hypercholesterolaemic subjects and no adverse effects were noted in the dietary control of hypercholesterolaemia.

Co-administration of berberine and plant stanols synergistically reduces plasma cholesterol in rats

“…In agreement with previous studies [21,24,25,30,31], dietary supplementation of PS significantly decreased plasma T-C and non-LDL-C levels. The most significant finding in the current study is that BBRPS dramatically reduced plasma T-C and non-HDL-C.…”

“…These effects collectively lead to the inhibition of TAG synthesis and consequently the reduction of plasma TAG levels. A great body of evidence demonstrates that PS supplementation has no effect or tends to increase plasma TAG levels [21,24,25,[29][30][31][32][54][55][56][57]. When BBR was co-administered with PS, an additive effect of BBR and PS on plasma TAG was observed.…”

“…With the advent of functional foods and nutraceuticals, an increasing number of patients with moderately elevated blood lipids, or clinical hyperlipidemia, are now searching for natural products or diet interventions, as alternatives to the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, to optimize their blood lipid levels. Phytosterols and their derivatives are the most widely used natural products for lowering blood cholesterol [12,[20][21][22]. Phytosterols lower plasma cholesterol by inhibiting intestinal cholesterol absorption [12,[23][24][25].…”

“…Phytosterols lower plasma cholesterol by inhibiting intestinal cholesterol absorption [12,[23][24][25]. However, the cholesterol-lowering efficacy of phytosterols is low compared to cholesterol drugs [15,16].In addition, phytosterols have no effect on plasma TAG levels [12,[20][21][22]. Therefore, it is important to develop novel natural products or formulations that possess higher cholesterollowering efficiencies and are also able to reduce plasma TAG as well.…”

Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)

“…Effects on carotenoid and tocopherol levels observed in these studies are summarized in Table 6. Some of the studies in addition investigated possible effects on plasma concentrations of vitamins D and K. Levels of these vitamins were not influenced by consumption of phytosterols or phytostanols (Raeini-Sarjaz et al, 2002;Korpela et al, 2006).…”