Stanol-Enriched Cheeses Might Help Reduce Cholesterol

A new Finnish study demonstrated the cholesterol-lowering effects of eating stanol-enriched cheese. Riitta Korpela, vice president, research, Valio, Ltd., Helsinki, Finland, led the study with researchers from the University of Helsinki, Raisio Research and Development, and the Foundation for Nutrition Research, among others, also contributing. The results of the study were published as "Effects of Low-Fat Hard Cheese Enriched With Plant Stanol Esters on Serum Lipids and Apolipoprotein B in Mildly Hypercholesterolaemic Subjects" in the online version of the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition on May 24 (see http://www.nature.com/ejcn/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/1602445a.html).

The 67 volunteers--all of whom had hypercholesterolaemia (high cholesterol levels)--for this study were randomly selected to consume low-fat cheese enriched with 2 grams of stanols per day or a control group that consumed regular, unenriched cheese for a total of five weeks. The researchers found that, compared to the control group, the stanol-ester group had an average of 5.8% decrease in total cholesterol and a 10.3% decrease in low-density lipoprotein (LDL, or "bad") cholesterol. The researchers did not note any significant differences in high-density lipoprotein (HDL, or "good") cholesterol, triglyceride or apolipoprotein B concentrations between the two groups.