Strawberries to improve palatability of a cholesterol lowering diet

Abstract

Introduction: Effective cholesterol-lowering diets are often unappealing. To improve the palatability of an effective cholesterol-lowering combination diet (dietary portfolio), oat bran bread was exchanged for strawberries. Methods: Twenty-eight hyperlipidemic subjects who had taken the dietary portfolio consisting of soy products, viscous fibers, plant sterols and almonds for mean duration of 1.5 year took additional oat bran bread (65g/d, 112 kcal, ≈ 2g β-glucan) or strawberries (454g/d, 112 kcal) for one month in random order with a 2 week washout. Results: On a scale of 1 (unpalatable) to 10 (highly palatable) the strawberries had a palatability score of 8.8±0.3 versus oat bran 6.2±0.4 at the end of the respective phase (P<0.001). At week 4 on the strawberry phase the LDL-C reduction from baseline (1.5 years pre-study) was 13.3±2.1% (P<0.001) and the total:HDL-C was 15.7±1.7% (P<0.001). Similar reductions were observed at week 4 on the oat bran of 13.9±2.3% (P<0.001) and 14.6±2.1% (P<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: Strawberries enhanced the palatability of a cholesterol-lowering diet while maintaining the serum lipid reductions of the dietary portfolio. Research support: California Strawberry Commission.