Effects of a milk product, fermented by Lactobacillus acidophilus and with fructo-oligosaccharides added, on blood lipids in male volunteers

Objective: To investigate in adult male volunteers the effect of a new fermented milk product, fermented by Lactobacillus acidophilus and with fructo-oligosaccharides added, on blood lipids. Design: Randomized placebo-controlled double-blind two-way cross over trial with two treatment periods of three weeks, separated by a wash-out period of one week. Setting: the study was performed at the TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute in Zeist, The Netherlands. Subjects: Thirty normal healthy men, aged 33-64 y (mean serum total cholesterol level: 5.23 +/- 1.03 (s.d.)), were selected for this study. Normal health was assessed by pre study screening. All subjects were used to an average Dutch food pattern. Interventions: During the treatment periods subjects consumed three times daily a 125 ml of either test or reference product as a part of their habitual diet. The test product was a milk, fermented by yogurt starters and Lactobacillus acidophilus, and contained 2.5% fructo-oligosaccharides, 0.5% vegetable oil and 0.5% milk fat. The reference product was a traditional yogurt (milk fermented only by yogurt strains), containing 1% milk fat. Blood samples for serum lipid analysis and blood glucose measurements were taken before the start of the experiment and at the end of both treatment periods. Results: As compared to the reference product, consumption of the test product resulted in significantly lower values for serum total cholesterol (P < 0.001), LDL-cholesterol (P < 0.005), and the LDL/HDL-ratio (P < 0.05) by 4.4, 5.4 and 5.3% respectively. Levels of serum HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and blood glucose remained essentially unchanged. The beneficial effects of the test product on serum cholesterol were largely;elated to an increase of this parameter during the consumption of the reference product. Conclusions: As compared to traditional yogurt, daily consumption of three times 125 ml of test product specifically lowered serum LDL-cholesterol levels in normal healthy male adult subjects with borderline elevated levels of serum total cholesterol within three weeks.