title: Bioactive oat β-glucan reduces LDL cholesterol in Caucasians and non-Caucasians.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is increasing global acceptance that viscous soluble fibers lower serum LDL cholesterol (LDL-C), but most evidence for this comes from studies in Caucasians. To see if oat β-glucan lowers LDL-C in Caucasians and non-Caucasians we conducted a post-hoc analysis of the results of a randomized, controlled, double-blind, multi-center clinical trial whose primary aim was to determine if molecular-weight (MW) influenced the LDL-C-lowering effect of oat β-glucan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Caucasian and non-Caucasian subjects with LDL-C-C ≥ 3.0 and ≤ 5.0 mmol/L (n = 786 screened, n = 400 ineligible, n = 19 refused, n = 367 randomized, n = 345 completed, n = 1 excluded for missing ethnicity) were randomly assigned to consume cereal containing wheat-fiber (Control, n = 74:13 Caucasian:non-Caucasian) or 3 g high-MW (3H, 2,250,000 g/mol, n = 67:19), 4 g medium-MW (4 M, 850,000 g/mol, n = 50:17), 3 g medium-MW (3M, 530,000 g/mol, n = 54:9) or 4 g low-MW (4 L, 210,000 g/mol, n = 51:12) oat β-glucan daily for 4 weeks. LDL-C after 4 weeks was influenced by baseline LDL-C (p < 0.001) and treatment (p = 0.003), but not ethnicity (p = 0.74). In all subjects, compared to control, 3 H, 4 M and 3 M reduced LDL-C significantly by 4.8 to 6.5%, but 4 L had no effect. Compared to control, the bioactive oat β-glucan treatments (3H, 4M and 3M) reduced LDL-C by a combined mean (95% CI) of 0.18 (0.06, 0.31) mmol/L (4.8%, n = 171, p = 0.004) in Caucasians, a value not significantly different from the 0.37 (0.09, 0.65) mmol/L (10.3%, n = 45, p = 0.008) reduction in non-Caucasians.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that oat β-glucan reduces LDL-C in both Caucasians and non-Caucasians; there was insufficient power to determine if the magnitude of LDL-C-lowering differed by ethnicity.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00981981.
authors: Glycemic Index Laboratories, Inc,, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. thomas.wolever@utoronto.ca
authors: Thomas M S
authors: TM
authors: Wolever
authors: Alison L
authors: AL
authors: Gibbs
authors: Jennie
authors: J
authors: Brand-Miller
authors: Alison M
authors: AM
authors: Duncan
authors: Valerie
authors: V
authors: Hart
authors: Benoît
authors: B
authors: Lamarche
authors: Susan M
authors: SM
authors: Tosh
authors: Ruedi
authors: R
authors: Duss
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018554:Avena / Q000737:chemistry*; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood* / Q000187:drug effects*; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry; D044465:White People; D047071:beta-Glucans / Q000008:administration & dosage*
chemical_list: D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D047071:beta-Glucans; C067858:beta-glucan, (1-3)(1-4)-