Abstract
We examined the effect of oatmeal containing β-glucan on blood lipids and its safety of long-term intake in Japanese men with boundary and hypercholesterolemia. A total of 48 men with boundary and mild hypercholesterolemia were divided into 3 groups. Group A was given four pieces of the placebo cookies, group B was given the test oatmeal cookies containing oatmeal at 30 g/4 pieces, and group C was given the same cookies containing oatmeal at 45 g/4 pieces, once a day for 12 weeks, respectively. These results were as follows: The serum total cholesterol level for the group C with boundary hypercholesterolemia decreased with a significant difference in comparison with the groups of A and C (p<0.05). There were no abnormal hematological changes, no abnormal level of physiochemical substances in blood, and clinical changes which were indicated any adverse reactions in the groups given test cookies. These results indicate that the supplementation of oatmeal at 45g/day (1.6g β-glucan/day) decreases the serum total cholesterol concentration and has no adverse effect in men with boundary hypercholesterolemia.
