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There is More to Healthy Cholesterol Than Just Numbers
Published Research Reports
Sterodial saponins break down the high molecular fats in foods whose absorption contributes to high blood pressure, hardening of the arteries, hypertriglyceridemian, and hypercholesterolemia.
"One of our most significant findings was that no patient taking saponin extract for 6 months or more continued to show an abnormally high blood pressure or excessive blood triglyceride and cholesterol levels. In other words, there were permanent benefits." Dr. Robert Bingham Arthritis News Today, Vol 2, No 6
Saponins natural tendency to ward off microbes makes them good candidates for treating fungal and yeast infections. These compounds serve as natural antibiotics, helping the body fight infections and microbial invasions.
Manuel F. Balandrin, Chemist
Science News, Vol 148
Masai Diet Wards Off Heart Disease Boris Weintraub, Geographica Milk and meat meals of the Masai of Kenya and Tanzania would terrify an American fearing cholesterol and heart disease. Yet Masai cholesterol levels are one-third lower than the U.S. average, and heart disease is almost unknown. New research offers a clue: Masai also eat a soup laced with bitter bark and roots that contain cholesterol-lowering substances called saponins. "Masai don't worry about cholesterol; it's a non-issue to them. And they love fat," says Timothy Johns of McGill University in Montreal. Supporting his findings, studies show that urban Masai without access to the bitter plants do develop heart disease.
Scientists are evaluating other saponins potential for lowering cholesterol in the blood, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease. Some saponins, taken orally, combine with cholesterol in the gastrointestinal tract, making cholesterol unavailable for absorption. Thus, saponin derivatives may yield a natural agent for treating or preventing heart disease. Manuel F Balandrin, Chemist Science News, Vol 148
Saponins if regularly included in the diet, may help the body protect itself from cancer. Saponin and saponin-like compounds have shown evidence that they can buttress the body's ability to thwart cancer and heart disease. A. Venket Rao, Chemist University of Toronto Ontario, Canada
Saponins form strong insoluble complexes with cholesterol. This has many important implications, including cholesterol-lowering activity in humans. Peter R. Cheeke, Ph D Professor of Comparative Nutrition Linus Pauling Institute, Oregon State University
Saponins - A Useful Treatment for Hypercholesterolaemia There is now a substantial body of evidence that dietary saponins can lower plasma cholesterol concentrations. They act either directly, by inhibiting absorption of cholesterol from the small intestine, or indirectly, by inhibiting reabsorption of bile acids. Where direct inhibition of cholesterol absorption occurs, saponins could prevent absorption not only of a high proportion of dietary cholesterol, but also a high proportion of the cholesterol derived from bile and the desquamatior, of mucosal cells. Saponins are potentially of great significance in human nutrition since it seems likely that the low saponin content of the typical Western diet may be partly responsible for the high incidences of heart disease in Western countries. D. Oakenfull and G. Sidhu European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1990) 44, 79-88
According to A. Venket Rao, a professor and researcher at the University of Toronto's Department of Nutritional Sciences, saponins which generally pass through our digestive system without being absorbed--bind onto the cholesterol that we eat. Then the two make their exit together, lowering cholesterol levels. Rao and his colleagues believe the saponins may even help prevent colon cancer. Normally, bile acid pours into the stomach to help absorb fats from foods. Some bacteria in the large intestine turn the bile into a substance that is highly carcinogenic. That's why a high-fat diet increases the risk of colon cancer. Research suggests that when saponins travel through, they stop the toxic material from forming. The evidence of saponins' benefits is so compelling that several pharmaceutical companies are already designing saponin-based drugs to lower cholesterol and to enhance the effectiveness of vaccines. Jennifer Reid Holmes READER'S DIGEST August, 1996
Saponins can bind cholesterol and thus interfer with cell growth and division. While drugs have side effects, many of them serious, saponins are safe. Mary Clarke, Ph D Extension Specialist, Nutrition Education Department of Human Nutrition, Kansas State University
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