Cholesterol-lowering properties

Observational studies have suggested possible favourable effects of estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) on the risk of coronary heart disease in postmenopausal women. Since elevated plasma cholesterol has been identified as the primary risk factor for cardiovascular disease, investigations have focused on the inverse association between plasma cholesterol concentration and soy protein consumption. The cholesterol-lowering properties of soy have been demonstrated, and a good correlation has been found in... 

Plant sterols such as sitosterol and camposterol, as by-products from vegetable oils at prices of about 15 kg-1, are also important starting materials for the production of steroid hormones. A new application is the cholesterol lowering property of these sterols esterified with fatty acids (with a production of about 10000 t a 1). They can be found in the margarine Becel pro-active of Unilever. A Finnish equivalent is Benecol, which contains stands such as sitostanol and campostanol, sterols having the 5,6-double bound hydrogenated, also esterified with fatty adds [33]. 

The cholesterol-lowering properties of dietary plant sterols have been known for decades (Best et al., 1954 Peterson, 1951 Poliak, 1953), due specifically to reductions in cholesterol absorption. Inverse correlations between plant sterol intake and cholesterol absorption have been reported in animals (Carr et al., 2002 Ntanios and Jones, 1999) and humans (Ellegard et al., 2000). The exact mechanism by which plant sterols inhibit cholesterol absorption is unclear, and several mechanisms of action have been proposed, including (1) competition with cholesterol for solubilization in micelles within the intestinal lumen, (2) cocrystallization with cholesterol to form insoluble crystals, (3) interaction with digestive enzymes, and (4) regulation of intestinal transporters of cholesterol. 

Ylitalo, R., Lehtinen, S., Wuolijoki, E., Ylitalo, P., and Lehtimaki, T. 2002. Cholesterol-lowering properties and safety of chitosan. Arzneimittelforschung 52, 1-7. 

Oat, Avena sativa, is a cereal which has been little studied, at least from a flavor point of view. Only a few investigations have been published, e.g. by Heydanek and McGorrin (7, 8). A review concerning oat flavor chemistry has also appeared quite recently (9). However, this cereal has attracted increased interest during the last few years, owing to the health benefits of oat. Examples are its cholesterol-lowering properties, the desirable physiological properties of fibre content and the favourable ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fats in its lipid content (10). 

Berger, A. Rein, D. Schafer, A. Monnard, I. Gremaud, G. Lambelet, P. Bertoli, C. 2005. Similar cholesterol-lowering properties of rice bran oil, with varied gamma-oryzanol, in mildly hypercholesterolemic men. Eur. J. Nutr. 44 163-173. 

Palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) is a valuable by-product of palm oil processing, from which the production of tocopherols and tocotrienols is technically feasible (Ong and Choo, 1997). PFAD is wildly abundant, as palm oil is the second largest oil produced in the world. It contains 4000-8000 pg/g total vitamin E compounds, which is up to 10 times as much as crude palm oil contains (Tan, 1989 Ong and Choo, 1997). The tocopherol and tocotrienol profiles of PFAD and crude palm oil are similar, consisting of about 85% of tocotrienols, i.e., y-tocotrienol > a-tocotrienol > 8-tocotrienol (Tan, 1989). Because of cholesterol-lowering properties (Lane et al., 1999), the high level of tocotrienols makes PFAD an important source, because most other natural sources are devoid of tocotrienols. Fatty acids and esters, sterols and squalene are removed from PFAD as described above. Finally, the vitamin-E-rich product is purified and deodorized to yield a tocopherol/tocotrienol-rich product of 95-99% purity. 

Phytosterols have been the object of increasing interest given their cholesterol-lowering properties. In addition, they possess anti-inflammatory,antiatherogenicity, " anticancer, and antioxi-dative activities. ... 

Laboratories have consistently reported that neither purified cellulose nor wheat bran have significant cholesterol-lowering effects ( ). From these observations we conclude that the water-insoluble types of polysaccharides have minimal cholesterol-lowering effects. In sharp contrast, purified water-soluble fibers such as pectin and guar have distinct hypocholesterolemlc effects. The cholesterol-lowering properties of water-soluble fibers are shared by fibers from quite diverse sources. Pectins are cell wall constituent of many plants and usually are extracted from citrus products. Oat gum is a gum extracted from oat bran while guar Is a storage polysaccharide extracted from the Indian cluster bean. 

Anderson, J.W. Chen, W-J.L. Cholesterol-lowering properties of oat products. In press. 

Kuda, T., Yazaki, T., Ono, M., Takahashi, H., Kimura, B., (2013). In vitro cholesterol-lowering properties of Lactobacillus plantarum AN6 isolated from aji-narezushi. Letters in Applied Microbiology, 57, 187-192. 

Brufau, G., Canela, M. A., and Rafecas, M. 208. Phytosterols Physiologic and metabolic aspects related to cholesterol-lowering properties. Nutr. Res. 28 217-225. 

Red yeast rice contains the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor lovastatin, which forms naturally when the rice yeast is fermented. Hence, its LDL cholesterol-lowering properties for the relatively low concentrations of lovastatin (around 5-10 mg when the rice is taken as 2 g bd) appear greater than can be accounted by the statin. In a study that lasted more than 12 weeks in 43 subjects who were intolerant of conventional statins, red yeast rice was compared with pravastatin 20 mg bd, the numbers who withdrew because of recurrence of myalgia were one and two respectively with the rice formulation and pravastatin [33. ... 

Brouns F, Theuwissen E, Adam A, Bell M, Berger A, Mensink RP. Cholesterol-lowering properties of different pectin types in mildly hyper-cholesterolemic men and women. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2012 66(5) 591-599. 

Brtifau G, Canela MA, Rafecas M (2008) Phytosttaols physiologic and metabolic aspects related to cholesterol-lowering properties. Nutr Res 28(4) 217—225. doi 10.1016/j. nutres.2008.02.003... 

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