A souped-up brand of orange juice may bring down cholesterol levels in people with high cholesterol. Researchers have found adults who drank two glasses a day for two months of orange juice containing cholesterol-fighting plant compounds called sterols, lowered their "bad" LDL cholesterol by about 12 percent.

The juice contains plant sterols, which are found naturally in small amounts of vegetables and vegetable oils and are thought to have decreased the absorption of cholesterol in the intestines. Researchers said it is quickly growing among the ranks of so-called "functional foods" targeted to promoting good health.

According to experts, plant sterol margarines such as Benecol and Take Control have been marketed for several years and now companies are trying to tap into the vast market of orange juice drinkers by touting the new products’ "vitamin-packed" and plant sterol selling points.

Participants of the study included 72 healthy volunteers with mild cases of elevated cholesterol, who initially drank orange juice for a two-week period. Then, a randomly selected group drank the vitamin-enhanced juice for the remaining eight weeks, while the others drank regular orange juice.

Some other characteristics of the participants were that they ranged in age from 20 to 73, had no history of cardiovascular disease and had average cholesterol levels of slightly above 200 and an average LDL of 140.

Blood tests from the study showed that the group of fortified orange juice drinkers’ total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol dropped by an average of 7 percent and 12 percent.

Researchers found this study had a modest affect on cholesterol levels and expressed concerns over the amount of calories in the juice. Two daily servings of the fortified juice with the recommended two grams of plant sterols contained 220 calories.

Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology March, 2004;24(3):e25-8

Dr. Mercola's Comments:

While I agree that the plant sterols are likely beneficial for many, fruit juice is not a very healthy food. It is loaded with eight teaspoons of the relatively dangerous simple carbohydrate, fructose. Rather than drinking orange juice for the plant sterols, why not drink vegetable juice that contains them naturally and doesn’t give you all that sugar? For some odd reason, fructose seems to be an acceptable form of sugar in many nutritional circles. This is not the case, so don’t be fooled. Nearly all simple sugars are metabolized quickly in the body and disrupt insulin levels, which contributes to most chronic diseases. So as you can see, the effects of fructose result in similar problems. Most of traditional medicine fails to recognize the scope of this problem. I am not advocating that one should avoid all fruit. Eating small amounts of whole fruit will NOT provide tremendous amounts of fructose and should not be a problem for most people. However, fruit juices sweetened with fructose should be avoided. If you are interested in how to eliminate dangerous sugars from your diet you should first cut out fruit juice and soda from your diet. Next you can consult my nutrition plan for information on how to fortify your diet with healthy foods, and take a look at my Total Health Program to find out even more in-depth information on how to eat for health while enjoying the food, including how to determine the ideal foods for your metabolic type. You will truly feel the difference. Related Articles: Fructose Raises Triglyceride Levels Do You Really Want Your Vitamin D From Orange Juice? Fructose is No Answer For a Sweetener Fructose is Not an Acceptable Sugar More Problems With Fructose Five "Health Foods" to Avoid