Adding Soy Phytosterols to Beef May Benefit Heart Health

Adding Soy Phytosterols to Beef May Benefit Heart Health

AMES, Iowa--Ground beef supplemented with soy phytosterols hasthe potential to become a functional food for reducing the risk ofcardiovascular disease, according to researchers from Iowa State University andcolleagues from Omaha, Neb.-based ConAgra Foods Inc. and the SouthwestFoundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas. Their study, which waspublished in the July issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition(76, 1:57-64, 2002) (www.ajcn.org), was atriple blind, four-week study involving 34 male college students with elevatedplasma total and LDL cholesterol, as well as an elevated ratio of total tohigh-density lipoprotein (HDL or "good") cholesterol.

Subjects were randomly assigned to either receive ground beef alone (control)or ground beef with 2.7 g of phytosterols, consisting of beta-sitosterol,campesterol and stigmasterol. Subjects in the treatment group demonstrated a9.3-percent decrease in plasma total cholesterol, a 14.6-percent decrease in LDLcholesterol concentrations, and a 9.1-percent decrease in the ratio of total toHDL cholesterol from baseline. Also, the decreases were similar in subjects withand without a family history of premature cardiovascular disease. No significantchanges were seen in the control group.