Short-term administration of tall oil phytosterols improves plasma lipid profiles in subjects with different cholesterol levels

• Published in: Metabolism, clinical and experimental clinical and experimental, 1998-06, Vol.47 (6), p.751-756
• Main Authors: Jones, Peter J.H., Howell, Tanya, MacDougall, Diane E., Feng, Jian Ying, Parsons, William
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Cholesterol - biosynthesis; Cholesterol - blood; Energy Intake; Erythrocytes - metabolism; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Lipids - blood; Lipids. Glycolipids; Male; Metabolisms and neurohumoral controls; Middle Aged; Phytosterols - administration & dosage; Phytosterols - blood; Phytosterols - pharmacology; Plant Oils; Triglycerides - blood; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0026-0495; 1532-8600
• DOI: 10.1016/S0026-0495(98)90041-5

To assess the short-term cholesterol-lowering potential of sitostanol-containing tall oil plant sterols, 22 subjects consumed fixed-food diets over two 10-day periods with or without 21.2 mg/kg body weight/d tall oil phytosterols (sitosterol 62%, sitostanol 21%, campesterol 16%, and campestanol 1%) in a randomized crossover study design. On day 10 of each diet, plasma lipoprotein cholesterol levels, plasma phytosterol concentrations, and cholesterol biosynthesis rates were determined. Total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels were lower ( P < .01) after administration of tall oil phytosterol (4.7 ± 0.3 and 3.0 ± 0.3 mmol/L, respectively) versus placebo (5.0 ± 0.3 and 3.2 ± 0.3 mmol/L, respectively). Tall oil treatment had no effect on the plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol level (1.1 ± 0.1 mmol/L) versus placebo (1.1 ± 0.1 mmol/L). Similarly, plasma triglyceride (TG) levels did not differ between tall oil (1.3 ± 0.2 mmol/L) and placebo (1.4 ± 0.2 mmol/L) treatments. Plasma campesterol (15.8 ± 3.7 mmol/mol cholesterol) and sitosterol (6.0 ± 2.1 mmol/mol cholesterol) levels were not different after tall oil treatment versus placebo treatment (15.4 ± 2.3 and 6.4 ± 2.0 mmol/mol cholesterol, respectively). Plasma sitostanol levels were essentially undetectable. No difference was observed in cholesterol biosynthesis between tall oil (0.045 ± 0.004 pools/d) and placebo (0.034 ± 0.004 pools/d) treatments; however, the effect of treatments in subjects with different cholesterol levels varied. In subjects with lower cholesterol values, the red blood cell cholesterol fractional synthesis rate (FSR) increased from 0.0291 ± 0.0054 pools/d after placebo to 0.0509 ± 0.0049 pools/d ( P < .05) after phytosterol treatment. In subjects with higher cholesterol values, the red blood cell cholesterol FSR did not change significantly after treatment. These results demonstrate the short-term efficacy of tall oil plant sterols as cholesterol-lowering agents.