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Serum Lipids in Hypercholesterolemic Men and Women Consuming Oat Bran and Amaranth Products¹

¹Research was supported by a grant from Health Valley Foods, Irwindale, CA, and by the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. ²Former MS, RD, reseach associate. ³Texas A&M University, Faculty of Nutrition, College Station, TX 77843-2471. ⁴Corresponding author. Phone: 409-845-2142 Fax: 409-862-1862. E-mail: jlupton@tamu.edu

One hundred-eighty hypercholesterolemic subjects following the National Cholesterol Education Program Step One Diet were randomly divided into six groups (30 ± 2/group). Group 1 served as the control and received no fiber supplements. The fiber supplemented groups received 50 g/day of oat bran or amaranth from various sources: Group 2 (oat bran muffins); Group 3 (amaranth muffins); Group 4 (Oat Bran O's); Group 5 (Oat Bran Flakes); and Group 6 (a variety of oat bran products). Fasting serum total cholesterol (FSTC), low density-, very low density-, and high density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, VLDL-C, and HDL-C) and serum triacylglycerols were measured before and after the 28-day intervention. Three-day diet records were completed before and after intervention. Subjects reduced (P < 0.05) the mean intake of total and saturated fat, and cholesterol. FSTC dropped more than twice as much (P < 0.05) as was observed with fat modification alone (Group 1 = -0.31 mmol/L), when oat bran was provided as flakes (Group 5 = -0.86 mmol/L) or in a variety of forms (Group 6 = -0.75 mmol/L). If the initial ratio of HDL-C to FSTC was low, then supplementation did not decrease FSTC to the extent observed when the initial ratio was high. Compliance with the dietary interventions was best when the subjects gave the product a rating of ≤2.0 (on a 1–4 hedonic scale, with 1 being excellent). We can conclude from these data that fiber supplementation to reduce serum cholesterol is most effective in hypercholesterolemic individuals that have a greater proportion of HDL-C. In addition, not all the oat bran products evaluated were able to lower cholesterol to the same extent, indicating that the ability of soluble fiber to reduce FSTC can be compromised by other dietary factors such as insoluble fiber.