BOSTON--A single dose of plant sterols in various forms given once in the morning did not affect blood lipid parameters of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a new study, published in April issue of Nutrition (136:1012-1016, 2006).
Although plant sterols have been previously shown to lower cholesterol and other blood lipids associated with CVD, researchers from the School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition, McGill University, Montréal, and the Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, designed a study to determine the efficacy of sterols paired with fish oil fatty acids. They randomly assigned 30 mildly hypercholesterolemic subjects to receive either: margarine (control), free plant sterols, plant sterols esterified to fatty acids from sunflower oil, plant sterols esterified to very long-chained fatty acids from fish oil, or plant sterols combined with the same amount of very long-chained fatty acids from fish oil. Each supplement treatment contained 1.0 g to 1.8 g of sterols and was taken once daily, in the morning with breakfast, for 29 days. While each treatment raised HDL cholesterol levels slightly, compared to control, none of the sterol treatments had a significant positive effect on LDL cholesterol, apolipoprotein-A or -B, or C-reactive protein (CRP).
Based on these results, the researchers concluded the efficacy of the new formulation of plant sterols cannot be confirmed from the present study design, where plant sterols were given as a single morning dose.