LDL-cholesterol-lowering effect of a dietary supplement with plant extracts in subjects with moderate hypercholesterolemia.

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Plant Extracts in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Red yeast rice (RYR), sugar cane-derived policosanols (SCdP) and artichoke leaf extracts (ALEs) are currently incorporated alone or in combination into dietary supplements for their potential low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-cholesterol)-lowering effects.

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a new dietary supplement (DS) with RYR, SCdP and ALEs on LDL-cholesterol.

Who Took Part

The study group was 39 subjects.

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

Because people in this Plant Extracts study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the subjects nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Plant Extracts, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some subjects received a placebo instead of Plant Extracts, giving a reference point.

Groups ran in parallel: each of the subjects stayed in one arm throughout.

Plasma concentrations of lipids [LDL-cholesterol, total cholesterol (TC), high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-cholesterol), triacylglycerols (TG)] and plasma levels of vitamins C and E, total polyphenols and malondialdehyde were determined at baseline and after 4, 8, 12 and 16 weeks.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Anticholesteremic Agents, Ascorbic Acid, Biological Products, Cholesterol, HDL, Cholesterol, LDL, Cynara scolymus and Dietary Supplements.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Plant Extracts in 39 subjects.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Its findings take up roughly 6 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2013 (European journal of nutrition), a journal based in Germany.

More context: all human trials.