title: Plant stanol ester consumption and arterial elasticity and endothelial function.
abstract: We evaluated whether plant stanol esters mixed with different vegetable oil spreads improved arterial health. A total of 200 adults with serum cholesterol >5 mmol/l were randomised to consume camelina, rapeseed or sunflower oil spread with stanol (2 g/d) ester or sunflower oil spread without stanol ester (controls) for 3 months. Non-invasive ultrasound was used to measure carotid artery compliance (CAC) and brachial artery flow-mediated endothelial dependent vasodilatation (FMD) at baseline and after the intervention as markers of arterial health. Plant stanol esters reduced LDL-cholesterol by 9 % compared with controls (P < 0.001) similarly in the different treatment groups. In the combined treatment groups (n 147), CAC or FMD were not changed from controls (n 47). In a subgroup analysis, division of subjects at baseline into below and over sex-specific 50th percentiles of CAC and FMD revealed that low CAC was improved from 1.23 to 1.59 % per 10 mmHg in the treatment group (n 69), and from 1.42 to 1.47 % per 10 mmHg in controls (n 25), (P = 0.0035 between groups). Low FMD was improved from 6.9 % to 8.6 % in the treatment group (n 73) and from 6.6 % to 6.8 % in controls (n 24) (P = 0.05 between groups). In the respective high-median groups, CAC and FMD were not changed in spite of significantly lowered LDL-cholesterol. In conclusion, consumption of plant stanol ester for 3 months had no overall significant effect on arterial elasticity and endothelial function. A controlled study is needed to test whether beneficial changes are obtained in subjects with initially reduced arterial elasticity and endothelial function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Physiology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: Olli T
authors.initials: OT
authors.lastname: Raitakari
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Salo
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gylling
authors.forename: Tatu A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Miettinen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001916:Brachial Artery / Q000502:physiology*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000502:physiology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004548:Elasticity; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008383:Margarine; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D012855:Sitosterols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014664:Vasodilation
chemical_list: D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D010938:Plant Oils; D012855:Sitosterols; C407042:plant stanol ester; D008383:Margarine; D002784:Cholesterol