Effect of oat bran supplemented diet on hypercholesterolaemia

Abstract

Objective - To examine the effect of oat bran supplemented diet on serum cholesterol in hypercholesterolaemic males who had failed to comply with a conventional lipid lowering diet.

Design - Run-in period with a conventional lipid lowering diet followed by supplements of oat bran (70 g per day) for six weeks. Wash-out period without oat bran ended the survey.

Setting - the workplace of Pyhäsalmi Mine, Finland.

Subjects - 59 volunteer male miners whose serum cholesterol was over 6.1 mmol/l in spite of a conventional lipid lowering diet.

Main outcome measures - Differences between means for serum cholesterol concentrations at different phases of the survey.

Results - During the oat bran supplemented diet serum total cholesterol decreased by 6.2%, from 6.93 to 6.50 mmol/l (p=0.000) and LDL cholesterol by 9.5%, from 4.64 to 4.20 mmol/l (p=0.000). During the wash-out phase serum total cholesterol increased by 23%, to 6.65 mmol/l (p=0.084) and LDL cholesterol by 5.0%, to 4.41 mmol/l (p=0.021). the reduction in cholesterol levels on oat bran supplement correlated positively with the pre-treatment values.

Conclusions - Oat bran seems to offer an additional dietary means of coping with hypercholesterolaemia.

Key Words:

• lipid lowering diet
• dietary Fibre
• dietary therapy
• lipoproteins
• compliance