Abstract
This study was designed to determine whether yogurt supplemented with insoluble dietary fibers would lower the levels of serum lipids in 89 normal and hyper-cholesterolemic adults. Yogurt supplemented with brewer’s yeast cell wall (BYC) was administered to 89 volunteers, and its effects on serum cholesterol levels were examined. The yoturt used contained 6g of BYC per 200ml, and an other batch without BYC served as control diet. The volunteers ingested 200ml of BYC-yogurt (BYC-Y) or control yogurt (CT-Y) everyday for four weeks in a crossover experiment. Blood samples were drawn from the subjects for analysis on five occasions two weeks before the start of the experimental period, and immediately before and after each dietary period. It was observed that the levels of the serum total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol significantly decreased following ingestion of BYC-Y compared with those before BYC-Y ingestion. Furthermore, the TC levels of the subjects (serum TC≥200mg/dl) taking the BYC-Y diet were found to be significantly lower than those taking the CT-Y diet. However, the HDL- and LDL-chloesterol levels of those taking the BYC-Y diet were not found to be significantly different from those taking the CT-Y diet. No abnormalities in serum biochemical parameters were observed during the experimental period in all the subjects. These results indicate that taking BYC-Y is effective in lowering the serum cholesterol levels in subjects with the tendency for hypercholesterolemia. The results suggest that BYC-Y may be utilized as a food for controlling hypercholesterolemia.
