Ferguson JJA, et al. - Herein, experts probed into the effects of dietary intervention with phytosterols (PS) with or without curcumin on blood lipids (primary outcome) in hypercholesterolaemic subjects. Findings disclosed that curcumin plus phytosterol therapy imparted a complementary cholesterol-lowering effect, larger than phytosterol therapy alone. This data aided in the formulation of a single functional food containing both the active ingredients for enhanced lipid-lowering and compliance in such individuals.

Methods

• Hypercholesterolaemic particpants were analyzed during this double-blinded, randomised, placebo-controlled, 2 × 2 factorial trial.
• Candidates received either placebo (PL, no phytosterols or curcumin), phytosterols (PS, 2 g/d), curcumin (CC, 200 mg/d) or a combination of PS and curcumin (PS-CC, 2 g/d-200 mg/d respectively) for four weeks.
• Fasting total cholesterol (TC), LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), TC-to-HDL-C ratio (TC:HDL-C) were included as the primary outcomes.
• Anthropometrics and fasting blood glucose concentrations served as the secondary outcomes.

Results

• This research was completed by 70 subjects, with a mean (±SEM) fasting TC concentration of 6.57 ± 0.13 mmol/L (PL, n = 18; PS, n = 17; CC, n = 18; PS-CC, n = 17).
• A prominent lowering of TC, LDL-cholesterol and TC:HDL-C post-intervention (p < 0.05) was achieved by PS and PS-CC supplementation.
• It was determined that the reductions from baseline in the PS group were 4.8% and 8.1% for TC and LDL-cholesterol respectively (p < 0.05).
• Non-significant reduction (2.3% and 2.6%) was illustrated in TC and LDL-C respectively by CC.
• Nevertheless, the PS-CC gave rise to a greater reduction in TC (11.0%) and LDL-cholesterol (14.4%) when compared to either of the treatments alone (p < 0.0001).
• A substantially greater reduction was yielded in the PS-CC treatment compared to those for CC (p < 0.05) or PL (p < 0.01) alone.
• Across all groups, plasma HDL-cholesterol and TG concentrations did not alter.
• Findings did not disclose any adverse side effects.