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Dietary combination of soy with a probiotic or prebiotic food significantly reduces total and LDL cholesterol in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 63, pages 238–245 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

We hypothesized that a dietary combination of soy with either a probiotic (yoghurt) or a prebiotic (resistant starch) would result in enhanced lipid-lowering effects compared with a control soy diet, possibly via improvements in isoflavone bioavailability.

Subjects:

Mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects (men and post-menopausal women) older than 45 years were recruited via the local media. Thirty-six subjects commenced the study; five withdrew.

Results:

Soy+probiotic significantly decreased total cholesterol (4.7±2.0%; P=0.038) and soy+prebiotic significantly decreased total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (5.5±1.6%; P=0.003 and 7.3±2.2%; P=0.005, respectively). The bioavailabilities of daidzein, genistein or equol were not affected by probiotic or prebiotic consumption or associated with lipid changes.

Conclusion:

Dietary combination of soy with either a probiotic or a prebiotic resulted in significant lipid lowering, not related to isoflavone bioavailability.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from The Australian Research Council, Specialty Cereals Pty Ltd and the ARC Smart Foods Key Centre at the University of Wollongong. The following companies provided foods for the dietary interventions: Specialty Cereals Pty Ltd, Mt Kuring-gai, New South Wales, Australia; So Natural Foods, Taren Point, New South Wales, Australia; Vaalia, Pauls Dairy, Brisbane, Qld, Australia; Penford Australia Ltd, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    T A Larkin & L B Astheimer

  2. ARC Smart Foods Key Centre,

    T A Larkin & W E Price

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Northfields Ave, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

    W E Price

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  1. T A Larkin
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Correspondence to T A Larkin.

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Larkin, T., Astheimer, L. & Price, W. Dietary combination of soy with a probiotic or prebiotic food significantly reduces total and LDL cholesterol in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects. Eur J Clin Nutr 63, 238–245 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602910

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