Effects of low-fat hard cheese enriched with plant stanol esters on serum lipids and apolipoprotein B in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the cholesterol-lowering effects of a low-fat cheese enriched with plant stanol esters in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects, as part of their normal diet. DESIGN: A randomized double-blind parallel-group study. SETTING: Valio Ltd, Helsinki. SUBJECTS: Sixty-seven mildly hypercholesterolaemic volunteers (24 men, 43 women) participated in the study, which all of them completed. INTERVENTIONS: The subjects were randomly assigned to the plant stanol ester group or the control group. During the 5-week intervention, the subjects in the stanol group consumed a cheese enriched with 2 g of plant stanols per day, and the subjects in the control group, a control cheese with no plant stanols. RESULTS: In the stanol ester group, as compared to the control group, both serum total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol decreased significantly, that is, by 5.8% (-0.32 mmol/l, 95% CI -0.50 to -0.15 mmol/l, P < 0.001) and 10.3% (-0.36 mmol/l, 95% CI -0.53 to -0.18 mmol/l, P < 0.001), respectively. There were no significant changes in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), triglycerides or apolipoprotein B concentrations between the groups. CONCLUSION: Cheese enriched with 2 g of plant stanol in the form of fatty acid esters decreases serum total and LDL cholesterol significantly.