Intake occasion affects the serum cholesterol lowering of a plant sterol-enriched single-dose yoghurt drink in mildly hypercholesterolaemic subjects

Objective: To determine the impact of intake occasion (with or without a meal), and product fat level on the cholesterol-lowering efficacy of a plant sterol (PS)-enriched (3 g/day) single-dose yoghurt drink. Design: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, parallel study with a 4 weeks run-in and 4 weeks intervention period. Setting: Subjects recruited from the general community. Subjects: A total of 184 moderate hypercholesterolaemic subjects (81 men and 103 women) (age 57+/-2 years) completed the study. Interventions: The study product was a 100-g single-dose yoghurt drink with or without added PS in the form of PS esters. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of five 4-week treatments: (i) drink A (0.1% dairy fat, 2.2% total fat) with a meal, (ii) drink A without a meal, (iii) drink B (1.5% dairy fat, 3.3% total fat) with a meal, (iv) drink B without a meal and (v) placebo drink with a meal. Results: LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) was significantly lowered when the single-dose drink was taken with a meal independent of its fat content (drink A: -9.5% (P