Cholesterol, High Cholesterol

A review of studies on oat β-glucan, soluble fiber found in oats, found that consuming 3g oat β-glucan daily is considered sufficient to lower LDL cholesterol by 5%-10% in individuals with normal or high cholesterol. Additionally, the US Food and Drug Administration (in 1997) and the UK Joint Health Claims Initiative (in 2004) approved the claim of oat β-glucan as a cholesterol-lowering ingredient. (31)

A randomized, controlled clinical trial on 112 subjects evaluated the effect of a 6-week low fat, low saturated fat diet that contained oil-based phytosterols (TOP) and oat β-glucan (from whole oats and bran) on blood lipid (fat) levels in adults with elevated cholesterol. The diet consisted of food products (cereal, snack bar and beverage) that provided 1.8 g TOP and 2.8 g beta-glucan/d and contained < or =3.0 g total fat and < or =1.0 g saturated fat or similar control foods. Results found that the blood LDL cholesterol response was significantly larger in the β-glucan treated group than in the control group, in which there was no change (-3.7 vs. 0.4%). Total cholesterol also decreased in the β-glucan group and did not change significantly in the controls (-2.3 vs. 0.8%). (32)