Randomised controlled trial of the effect of phytosterol-enriched low-fat milk on lipid profile in Chinese

This journal issue including Abstracts of 19th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Medicine and the 10th Across the Strait Scientific Conference on Cardiovascular Science ... 2015Oral Presentation: OP15OBJECTIVE: Phytosterols found naturally in plants are known to reduce cholesterol absorption in the gut. The Chinese diet typically contains many vegetables and not much meat; we therefore aimed to test if phytosterols are as effective in Chinese. METHOD: There were 221 (41 men, 180 women; age 24-79) subjects who consented to participate in the study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT02541201), the protocol of which was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Hong Kong/Hospital Authority Hong Kong West Cluster. Subjects were randomised to double-blind intake of a phytosterol-enriched low-fat milk or a conventional low-fat milk for three weeks. Before every breakfast and lunch, they had a 273 ml serving. Active treatment contained 1.5 g/day phytosterol. Fasting blood samples for lipid profile were taken before and at the end of study. Body weight, waist circumference and blood pressure were also measured. RESULTS: LDL-cholesterol decreased from 3.22±0.08 to 3.06±0.08 mmol/L in the phytosterol group and increased from 3.08±0.08 to 3.20±0.08 mmol/L in controls. Comparing treatment with control, the decrease in LDL-cholesterol was 9.5±2.0% (p