In 23 adults with overweight or obesity, plant sterol supplementation raised a blood sterol and did not change LDL cholesterol

What the research found

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial was published on 12 November 2026. Twenty-three adults with overweight or class I to III obesity and mild hypercholesterolemia took 2 grams a day of a plant sterol supplement, or placebo, for 8 weeks, with a 6-week wash-out. Age and sex are not in the abstract, so the tags are all and all ages. LDL cholesterol was the primary outcome of the trial. The inflammatory, endothelial, and oxidative-stress measures in this paper were secondary. Plant sterols raised serum beta-sitosterol by 1.21 micrograms per milliliter (95 percent CI 0.70 to 1.72) and its cholesterol-normalized ratio by 0.60 micromoles per millimole (0.35 to 0.85). Those two were the only outcomes that stayed after false-discovery correction. Campesterol rose nominally and did not stay. LDL cholesterol changed by minus 3.19 mg/dL (minus 15.91 to 9.53) and total cholesterol by minus 1.79 mg/dL (minus 14.39 to 10.81), neither clear. No inflammatory, endothelial, or oxidative-stress marker stayed after correction. VCAM-1 had a nominal rise of 59.08 ng/mL (7.14 to 111.02). A small crossover. DOI 10.3390/nu18223756. Not medical advice.

Evidence level: Clinical trial. This is among the stronger kinds of evidence, but one study rarely settles a question.

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