T hat morning glass of OJ might be doing some good for your cholesterol numbers. In a new study published in Nutrition Research, Brazilian scientists report that orange juice made from concentrate reduced unhealthy LDL choles- terol levels in patients with high cholesterol. Orange juice is regularly consumed worldwide, but its effects on plasma lipids have rarely been explored, noted Thais B. Cesar of Sao Paulo State University and colleagues. They theo- rized that orange juice from concentrate, because of its higher favonoid levels, could improve LDL levels and lipid metabolism.Researchers gave 14 people with high cholesterol and 31 normal subjects a little over three cups daily of orange juice (made 1:6 concentrate to water) for 60 days and compared their blood cholesterol levels to 8 OJ-abstaining controls. Only those with high cholesterol saw a drop in LDL levels.All the juice-drinkers, however, experienced an improvement in the rate at which HDL (good) cholesterol sweeps up free cholesterol to transport out of the body. In subjects with high cholesterol, free-cholesterol transfer to HDL increased by 22%. The effect was even greater in normal-cholesterol juice drinkers, whose HDL transfer rate increased by 48%. Other measures of cholesterol metabolism also improved in both groups.By contrast, those in the non-OJ-drinking control group showed no change in LDL levels or HDL transfer rates. None of the participants saw signifcant changes in HDL or triglyc- eride levels.Orange-juice concentrate, which is made from the whole fruit, including pectin and essential oils from the peel, has higher levels of favonoids than fresh juice. These favonoids, including naringin, hesperitin and polymethoxylated favones, have been shown in previous studies to reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Cesar and colleagues are currently studying whether fresh orange juice also has cholesterol benefts; results will be published later this year.Another new study by the Brazilian researchers, published in Maturitas, sug- gests that combining orange juice with exercise may produce even greater benefts. Researchers com- pared LDL levels among 26 women who underwent aerobic training for three months. Half the women also drank a little over two cups of orange juice from concentrate per day. The OJ drinkers saw an average 15% decrease in LDL cholesterol and 18% increase in HDL, while no signifcant change was observed in those who exercised without drinking juice. Nutrition Research, October 2010; abstract at<dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. nutres.2010.09.006> Maturitas, December 2010; abstract at<dx.doi.org/10.1016/j. maturitas.2010.07.009>
