Alternative Health Blog

In a 12-week open-label intervention study involving 32 children with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), 13 children with Familial Combined Hyperlipidemia (FCH) and 13 children with Undefined Hypercholesterolemia (UH), results indicate that dietary supplementation with plant sterols may improve lipid profile. The children received plant-sterol enriched yogurt daily for a period of 12 weeks. At intervention end, a significant reduction in LDL cholesterol was observed in the children. Thus, the authors of this study conclude, "Daily consumption of plant sterol dairy products favorably changes lipid profile by reducing LDL-cholesterol. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the use of plant sterols-enriched foods in treating children with primary hyperlipidemia such as FCH and UH, likely to be the most frequent form also in the young age in the western populations."