Hypolipidemic efficacy of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum in patients with coronary heart disease

Abstract

Objective — to evaluate the lipid­lowering effect of probiotics Lactobacillus plantarum by comparing the efficacy of the combination of this probiotic and simvastatin with simvastatin monotherapy in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).Materials and methods. The study population consisted of patients of both sexes aged 30—70 years with CHD and dyslipidemia, the study design was an open, comparative, randomized, parallel. 46 patients were divided into 2 groups: the main group, who received a combination of probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum and simvastatin at a dose of 20 mg and a control group, who received simvastatin monotherapy at a dose of 20 mg. The study lasted 13 weeks and included 5 visits: the first two were screening visits, followed by three visits after 4, 8, 12 weeks of treatment, during which the lipid profile was evaluated. Primary final efficacy variables were total cholesterol (TC) and low­density lipoprotein (LDL) levels at the time of completion of the study.Results and discussion. After 12 weeks, a statistically significant decrease in the levels of TC (p = 0.038) and LDL (p = 0.047) in the main group was observed compared to the control group, with efficacy criteria (reduction of TC and LDL after 12 weeks by 20 % and more) were achieved in the patients of the main group (24.3 and 31 % respectively), compared to the control group (11.9 and 13.4 %). There were no significant changes of HDL and TG when comparing the combination therapy and simvastatin monotherapy. These results indicate that probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum have an additional lipid­lowering effect.Conclusions. The combination of simvastatin and probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum is more effective in reducing levels of TC and LDL as compared to simvastatin monotherapy in patients with CHD and dyslipidemia. Thus, the use of probiotics Lactobacillus plantarum can be recommended as an additional or alternative lipid­lowering therapy.