Affiliations 

  • 1 Universiti Malaysia Sabah
MyJurnal

Abstract

Introduction: Coronary heart disease (CHD) has become the number one cause of death worldwide. Past studies have established the efficiency of prebiotics, probiotics, and their combination on lowering blood lipids. However, the mechanism(s) on the reduction of cholesterol involved is not fully understood due to limited in-vivo studies. Therefore, the reported hypocholesterolaemic potential of probiotics and prebiotics supplementations warrants fur-ther research. This study examined the effectiveness of the intervention products on improving lipid profiles, (to-tal cholesterol (TC), HDL-C, LDL-C, TG). Methods: A randomized, single blind intervention involving 8 weeks of treatment followed by 4 weeks of washout period was carried out on 29 volunteers with TC 5.2-6.0 mmol/L who were screened from 517 volunteers. Exclusion criteria included chronic diseases, immune-compromised diseases, consumption of cholesterol-lowering drugs, and pregnancy if female. Informed consent was obtained before com-mencement of the study. Participants were randomly assigned to receive 2g/d Lactobacillus Acidophilus NCFM pro-biotic powder, 10g/d inulin, 10g/d dietary fibre, control intervention of 20mg/d statin, or control intervention of diet counseling. Results: No significant (p>0.05) changes were observed in the fasting blood glucose, physical activities and total nutrient intake of all the groups. Inulin reduced LDL-C by 12.13%. Probiotic reduced TC by 6.98%. Dietary fibre reduced TC by 8.6%, and LDL-C by 16.08%. Conclusion: Although the results showed no significant changes, it may be clinically significant as the intervention products improve the lipid profiles. It was concluded that the im-provement in the lipid profiles may be attributable to the intervention products.