Can BENECOL Spreads be incorporated into a low-fat diet?
A. Yes, BENECOL® Spreads can be used in conjunction with a low fat diet to provide additional cholesterol lowering benefit versus diet alone. Plant Stanol Esters affect biliary as well as dietary cholesterol absorption. A clinical study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1999; 69:403-410, examined the use of plant stanol ester spread in subjects who were on a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet similar in fat content to a Step II diet. Control subjects on the Step II diet lowered their total cholesterol by 7.7% and LDL cholesterol by 9.9% with diet alone. Subjects who were on the Step II diet and also consumed 5.1 grams of plant stanol esters daily lowered their cholesterol up to 18.3% and LDL cholesterol up to 23.6%. The addition of plant stanol ester spread to the diet resulted in an additional reduction of 10.6% for total cholesterol and 13.7% for LDL cholesterol in addition to the reduction achieved by diet alone. The investigators concluded that the use of plant st
