Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Communication
  • Published:

Spreads enriched with three different levels of vegetable oil sterols and the degree of cholesterol lowering in normocholesterolaemic and mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the dose-response relationship between cholesterol lowering and three different, relatively low intake levels of plant sterols (0.83, 1.61, 3.24 g/d) from spreads. To investigate the effects on lipid-soluble (pro)vitamins.

Design: A randomized double-blind placebo controlled balanced incomplete Latin square design using five spreads and four periods. The five study spreads included butter, a commercially available spread and three experimental spreads fortified with three different concentrations of plant sterols.

Subjects: One hundred apparently healthy normocholesterolaemic and mildly hypercholesterolaemic volunteers participated.

Interventions: Each subject consumed four spreads, each for a period of 3.5 week.

Results: Compared to the control spread, total cholesterol decreased by 0.26 (CI: 0.15–0.36), 0.31 (CI: 0.20–0.41) and 0.35 (CI: 0.25–0.46) mmol/L, for daily consumption of 0.83, 1.61 and 3.24 g plant sterols, respectively. For LDL-cholesterol these decreases were 0.20 (CI: 0.10–0.31), 0.26 (CI: 0.15–0.36) and 0.30 (CI: 0.20–0.41). Decreases in the LDL/HDL ratio were 0.13 (CI: 0.04–0.22), 0.16 (CI: 0.07–0.24) and 0.16 (CI: 0.07–0.24) units, respectively. Differences in cholesterol reductions between the plant sterol doses consumed were not statistically significant. Plasma vitamin K1 and 25-OH-vitamin D and lipid standardized plasma lycopene and alpha-tocopherol were not affected by consumption of plant sterol enriched spreads, but lipid standardized plasma (alpha+beta)-carotene concentrations were decreased by about 11 and 19% by daily consumption of 0.83 and 3.24 g plant sterols in spread, respectively.

Conclusions: The three relatively low dosages of plant sterols had a significant cholesterol lowering effect ranging from 4.9–6.8%, 6.7–9.9% and 6.5–7.9%, for total, LDL-cholesterol and the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio, respectively, without substantially affecting lipid soluble (pro)vitamins. No significant differences in cholesterol lowering effect between the three dosages of plant sterols could be detected. This study would support that consumption of about 1.6 g of plant sterols per day will benefically affect plasma cholesterol concentrations without seriously affecting plasma carotenoid concentrations.

Sponsorship: Unilever Research Vlaardingen, NL

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hendriks, H., Weststrate, J., van Vliet, T. et al. Spreads enriched with three different levels of vegetable oil sterols and the degree of cholesterol lowering in normocholesterolaemic and mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects. Eur J Clin Nutr 53, 319–327 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600728

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1600728

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links