[00:05.12]American researchers say a new, low-fat substitute for butter could reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke for millions of people.
[00:17.76]The new food product is made from vegetable oil with added substances called sterol esters.
[00:26.15]Sterols are known to reduce harmful cholesterol in the blood.
[00:31.97]Harmful cholesterol increases the risk of heart attack.
[00:36.81]Cholesterol is found in meat and milk products.
[00:42.14]Sterol esters are similar in structure to cholesterol.
[00:47.12]However, sterols come from plant oils.
[00:50.73]The new,low-fat product is called Take Control.
[00:56.32]It contains sterol esters from soybeans.
[01:00.58]Take Control is one of two food products designed to reduce cholesterol.
[01:07.92]The other,called Benecol, contains plant stanol esters from the wood of pine trees.
[01:16.07]The United States Food and Drug Administration approved both products last year.
[01:23.67]Earlier studies have shown that eating Benecol for several months reduces harmful cholesterol levels as much as fourteen percent.
[01:35.09]The new study involved 224 people with moderate to high levels of harmful cholesterol.
[01:45.85]All the people ate a diet of lowfat,low-cholesterol foods for five weeks.
[01:53.37]One group of people ate a common low-fat product on bread and other foods.
[01:59.56]Another group ate one gram of Take Control daily.
[02:05.05]The other group ate two grams of it each day.
[02:09.75]Researchers say the harmful cholesterol levels of those who ate Take Control daily dropped more than 8%.
[02:18.11]The harmful cholesterol levels of people who had the common low-fat spread rose more than two percent |