Yoghurt enriched with Lactobacillus acidophilus does not lower blood lipids in healthy men and women with normal to borderline high serum cholesterol levels.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate whether intake of Lactobacillus acidophilus strain L-1 lowers serum cholesterol in healthy men and women.

DESIGN

Randomised, placebo-controlled parallel trial.

SETTING

Subjects were free-living. Blood sampling and distribution of yoghurts were administered at a local hospital.

SUBJECTS

Seventy-eight adult men and women with cholesterol levels of 3.9-7.8 mmol/L (mean +/- s.d., 5.4+/-0.7).

INTERVENTIONS

Subjects consumed 500 mL of control yoghurt daily for two weeks. They were then randomly allocated to receive 500 mL per day of control yoghurt or of yoghurt enriched with Lactobacillus acidophilus L-1 for another six weeks. The yoghurts were spiked with a trace of lithium; compliance as assessed by plasma lithium was excellent.

RESULTS

Energy and nutrient intake was constant, and identical for the two groups. Mean body weight was stable. Baseline blood lipid concentrations in the control and treatment groups were highly similar. The effect of consumption of Lactobacillus acidophilus L-1 vs. control on total cholesterol was -0.02 mmol/L (95% CI, -0.18-0.15) after three weeks and 0.04 mmol/L (95% CI, -0.12-0.20) after six weeks. Serum LDL and HDL-cholesterol and triacylglycerol levels were also unaffected.

CONCLUSIONS

Yoghurt enriched with Lactobacillus acidophilus L-1 does not lower serum cholesterol in men and women with normal to borderline high cholesterol levels.