Effects of casein versus soy protein diets on serum cholesterol and lipoproteins in young healthy volunteers.

The effects of casein and soy protein on serum cholesterol levels and lipoprotein composition were studied in 69 healthy volunteers (18 to 28 yr of age) under strict dietary control. Subjects were fed for 6 wk on diets containing 13% of energy as protein, 38% as fat (P/S ratio = 0.6) and about 380 mg cholesterol per day. Of the protein in the diets 65% consisted of casein or soy protein or a 2:1 mixture of casein and soy protein. After a control period of 10 days during which all the subjects received the casein-soy diet, 20 subjects continued on this diet for the next 4 wk as a base-line control, 25 subjects switched to the casein diet, and the remaining 24 subjects switched to the soy diet. Both food records and chemical analysis of double portions revealed that the diets were completely identical except for the type of protein. Average serum cholesterol levels at the end of the control period were 152 +/- 27 mg/dl (3.93 +/- 0.69 mmol/l) and 153 +/- 23 mg/dl (3.95 +/- 0.60 mmol/l) (mean +/- SD) for the casein and soy group, respectively. At the end of the test period the levels were 149 +/- 24 and 150 +/- 23 mg/dl, respectively; thus there was no significant change on either diet. On the casein diet there was no change in the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration, and only a slight, nonsignificant increase in the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration. On the soy diet, however, there was a significant decline in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (-6.6 mg/dl; -0.17 mmol/l) and a significant increase in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (+5.8 mg/dl; +0.15 mmol/l). The decline in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the soy group was significantly different from the small change in the casein group, but the difference in increase in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the soy and the casein group was only weakly significant. This suggest that soy protein could have a slight beneficial effect on the distribution of cholesterol over the various lipoprotein fractions, even at constant total cholesterol concentration.