Table 4. Fecal PS Contents (mg/g Freeze-Dried Feces) after Regular Consumption of the Beverages (n = 42) (Median, Percentile 25–75%)a.
| conversion
percentages |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sterol | pre-treatment | post-treatment (6 weeks) | p value | absolute change | p value | low converters | high converters |
| PS-Enriched Beverage | |||||||
| β-sitosterol | 0.74 (0.64; 0.99) a | 11.21 (2.29; 22.33) b | 2 × 10–7 | 8.29 (1.49; 17.27) y | 9.4–49.5 (15) | 50.0–87.8 (26) | |
| sitostanol | 0.57 (0.46; 0.66) a | 3.33 (1.99; 5.74) b | 5 × 10–8 | 2.84 (1.34; 4.91) y | |||
| ethylcoprostanol | 3.97 (2.70; 5.17) a | 17.49 (7.36; 28.66) b | 8 × 10–8 | 12.95 (2.65; 20.66) y | |||
| campesterol | 0.32 (0.24; 0.43) a | 1.57 (0.62; 2.40) b | 2 × 10–7 | 1.09 (0.34; 2.03) y | 0.5–44.3 (42) | ||
| campestanol | 0.38 (0.31; 0.50) a | 0.86 (0.58; 1.31) b | 4 × 10–8 | 0.46 (0.20; 0.80) y | |||
| methylcoprostanone | 0.05 (0.03; 0.11) a | 0.24 (0.07; 0.43) b | 2 × 10–6 | 0.15 (0.03; 0.40) y | |||
| stigmasterol | 0.06 (0.04; 0.08) a | 0.16 (0.08; 0.26) b | 1 × 10–5 | 0.07 (0.00; 0.19) y | 0.0002–48.6 (30) | 50.9–90.3 (12) | |
| ethylcoprostenol | 0.11 (0.08; 0.13) a | 0.10 (0.08; 0.13) a | 0.93 | 0.002 (−0.02; 0.02) y | |||
| total PS | 6.77 (4.96; 7.58) a | 36.49 (23.27; 53.89) b | 2 × 10–10 | 29.05 (11.77; 44.55) y | |||
| GOS–PS-Enriched Beverage | |||||||
| β-sitosterol | 0.76 (0.56; 1.13) a | 12.02 (2.68; 20.36) b | 3 × 10–8 | 10.79 (2.14; 19.30) y | 0.79 | 1.5–45.1 (15) | 51.2–85.8 (26) |
| sitostanol | 0.56 (0.50; 0.73) a | 3.90 (1.98; 5.42) b | 3 × 10–8 | 3.16 (1.27; 4.80) y | 1.00 | ||
| ethylcoprostanol | 3.47 (2.47; 4.58) a | 17.40 (8.65; 27.32) b | 5 × 10–8 | 14.47 (4.91; 21.56) y | 0.88 | ||
| campesterol | 0.31 (0.23; 0.42) a | 1.60 (0.87; 2.55) b | 1 × 10–10 | 1.41 (0.47; 2.11) y | 0.64 | 0.7–49.0 (42) | |
| campestanol | 0.36 (0.26; 0.46) a | 0.83 (0.59; 1.23) b | 8 × 10–8 | 0.44 (0.23; 0.82) y | 0.61 | ||
| methylcoprostanone | 0.05 (0.03; 0.08) a | 0.25 (0.12; 0.50) b | 1 × 10–6 | 0.18 (0.03; 0.45) y | 0.36 | ||
| stigmasterol | 0.06 (0.05; 0.09) a | 0.18 (0.09; 0.30) b | 8 × 10–8 | 0.09 (0.02; 0.23) y | 0.67 | 0.0002–47.9 (29) | 51.9–83.7 (13) |
| ethylcoprostenol | 0.10 (0.09; 0.12) a | 0.11 (0.09; 0.13) a | 0.37 | 0.01 (−0.01; 0.02) y | 0.25 | ||
| total PS | 6.01 (5.01; 7.26) a | 38.99 (23.21; 55.94) b | 4 × 10–8 | 32.54 (18.07; 49.28) y | 0.60 | ||
Absolute change: post-treatment level minus pre-treatment level. Different superscript letters denote significant differences (p < 0.05) in the same kind of beverage (PS-enriched or GOS–PS-enriched) among pre-treatment and post-treatment values (within lines) (a,b) or in different beverages among absolute change (within columns) (y,z). β-Sitosterol conversion percentage: [ethylcoprostanol/(β-sitosterol + sitostanol + ethylcoprostanol)] × 100; campesterol conversion percentage: [methylcoprostanone/(campesterol + campestanol + methylcoprostanone)] × 100; stigmasterol conversion percentage: [ethylcoprostenol/(stigmasterol + ethylcoprostenol)] × 100. Low and high converters were defined according to Wilkins & Hackman (1974)36 considering that low converters have a sterol conversion rate of <50% and high converters of >50%. The number of subjects corresponding to each group is indicated in parentheses.