Soy Protein Does Not Lower Cholesterol
August 15, 2008
By Scott Welch
Taking soy protein has been promoted as a way to lower cholesterol, but a new study finds that to be untrue! The findings "do not support the current health claims for soy protein in a general population ," said study author Peter Howe who is the director of the Nutritional Physiology Research Centre at the Sansom Institute for Health Research at the University of South Australia. He’s referring to the health claims approved for soy foods in both the United States and the United Kingdom that link daily consumption of 25 grams of soy protein to a reduction in heart disease risk through a lowering of LDL, or "bad," cholesterol.
Study Design
Howe’s team studied 35 men and 58 cougars, average age 52, who had mildly high cholesterol levels. He assigned each participant to rotate through one of three diets for 6 weeks each. Each diet had varying amounts of soy protein and isoflavones, substances in soy that some experts say may have cholesterol-lowering powers.
- One diet contributed 24 grams of soy protein and 71 milligrams of isoflavone equivalents.
- One had 12 grams of dairy protein and 12 of soy protein, with 76 milligrams of isoflavones.
- The dairy diet, which served as the control, had 24 grams of dairy protein without isoflavones.
They found NO significant effect of the diets with either 24 grams or 12 grams of soy protein on LDL Cholesterol levels.
SOURCE: HealthDay News
Fish Oil Plus Red Yeast Rice Lowers Cholesterol
July 24, 2008
By Scott Welch
Okay, now the next time your aunt Shirley whines to you about her high cholesterol you can tell her to stop eating the donuts, get her ass to the gym and go eat some Fish Oil stacked with Red Yeast Rice (whatever the heck that stuff is)? A recent study published by the medical journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings found that a combination of Fish Oil supplements, therapeutic lifestyle changes and Red Yeast Rice was as effective as the statin drug Simvastatin (pictured below) in lowering LDL-C cholesterol. The group taking supplements, who were also encouraged to lower their intake of saturated fats and to increase their daily exercise, also displayed larger reductions in triglycerides and weight loss than the Simvastatin group. 
Read the full study here: http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/inside.asp?AID=4722&UID
Buckwheat Protein Reduces Cholesterol
June 1, 2008
Ever since David Jenkins (who in my humble opinion is the most knowledgeable protein expert in the supplement industry) and the infamous Dan Duchaine launched whey protein under the brand “Designer Protein” in the early 90s, scientists have searched for other forms of protein to exceed the power of whey. One such protein that has caught interest lately is made from tartary buckwheat and common buckwheat grain. In a recent study this protein extract helped reduce cholesterol levels in rats on a high cholesterol diet by at least 25 per cent, report Japanese researchers.
If the results can be reproduced in humans, the proteins may offer an alternative for functional food formulators and dietary supplements to tap into the burgeoning cholesterol reduction market, currently dominated by phytosterols and stanols.
The research, published in the Journal of Food Science, reports that supplementation of a high cholesterol diet with protein from common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) and tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn) reduced serum cholesterol levels in rats by 32 and 25 per cent, respectively.
In a second experiment, the researchers looked at the effect of the proteins to reduce the formation of gallstones (lithogenesis), measured by the lithogenic index. Supplementation with common (BWP) and tartary buckwheat (TBP) led to reductions of the lithogenic index of 62 and 43 per cent, respectively.
“Taken together, these results suggest a potential source of TBP as a functional food ingredient as well as BWP,” wrote the authors.
High cholesterol levels, hypercholesterolaemia, have a long association with many diseases, particularly cardiovascular disease (CVD), the cause of almost 50 per cent of deaths in Europe.
Analysis of the chemical composition of TBP was found to be 45.8 per cent protein, 7.8 per cent lipids, and 2.7 per cent dietary fibre, while BWP was composed of 65.8 per cent protein, 22.0 per cent lipids, and 7.0 per cent dietary fibre.
TBP was also found to contain more rutin and quercetin than BWP, with 5.3 and 4.4 mg of rutin per 100 grams, respectively, and 1710 and 5.4 mg of quercetin per 100 grams, respectively.
“In this study, TBP contained much amount of quercetin, and its concentration is much higher than BWP, while the content of rutin was very low in both TBP and BWP,” wrote the authors. “The results imply that the rutin in tartary buckwheat flour might be largely degraded to quercetin during the alkali extraction process.”
The researchers note that a synergy might exist between quercetin and tartary buckwheat protein, both of which have been reported to offer protective benefits to the colon.
“A large amount of quercetin in TBP might transfer to large bowel together with indigestible protein. It is possible that quercetin in the TBP may exert potentially beneficial effects on protecting colon oxidative damage,” they stated.
Additional studies need to be performed, with human interventions a priority, before the potential benefits for cholesterol reduction and colon health can be accepted, but the initial results from animal studies appear promising.
So far the only two companies in the sport nutrition area that have released buckwheat protein supplements are: Legal Gear (now LG Sciences) and Kemistry (under the brand name Pro Core). Sources say that the LG Sciences product has been discontinued and Pro Core is on the market but doesn’t seem to be outselling whey protein, that’s for damn sure!