Vegetable Oil Enriched with Phytosterol Ester and the Degree of Serum Cholesterol Lowering Effect in Healthy Subjects

Phytosterols are natural dietary components and their lowering effect on serum cholesterol level has been well documented. There have been few reports about the effect of less than 1g/day of phytosterol on serum cholesterol level. We attempted to investigate serum cholesterol lowering effect of phytosterol at 2 relatively low doses. In a randomized, double-blind, 3-group parallel protocol, 67 healthy men with a total cholesterol of 221.5 ± 17.0 (mean ± SD, mg/dL) consumed each about 0.04 g/day, 0.29 g/day and 0.45 g/day of phytosterol (as the major free sterol) for 4 weeks. The level of total cholesterol decreased by 1.0%, 0.5% and 7.9% in the control, the low-and the high-phytosterol group, respectively. As for LDL-cholesterol level, these decreases were 1.8%, 1.0% and 9.5%, respectively. The relative reduction rates of total-and LDL-cholesterol levels in the high-phytosterol group were significantly different from the others, whereas no difference between the control and the low-phytosterol group were observed. No significant difference in the levels of VLDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol or triacylglycerol were found among the groups. Apolipoprotein B and RLP-cholesterol levels were also lower in the higher group. These results indicate that a daily intake of about 0.45 g phytosterol beneficially affect the levels of total- and LDL-cholesterol even in healthy subjects with a slightly elevated serum cholesterol level, and that it may be helpful in reducing the risk of CHD.