CSPHP to be incorporated into dietary supplements

Kyowa Hakko Kogyo, one of Japan's leading developers of pharmaceutical and biotechnology products, has produced a tablet version of CSPHP, its novel cholesterol-lowering food ingredient. This development will allow dietary supplement makers to manufacture CSPHP-based cholesterol-lowering tablets or capsules for consumers to incorporate into their daily diet, and follows the successful launch of a liquid version of CSPHP in July 2003.

A randomised, double blind placebo-controlled trial of 75 subjects concluded that 3g/day of CSPHP in tablet form over four weeks or beyond had a significant effect in reducing serum cholesterol levels in mildly hypercholesterolemic subjects (serum total cholesterol: 220-240 mg/dl). At the same time, 1.5g seemed to possess potential to lower cholesterol in a dose responsive manner.

'CSPHP is an increasingly popular and important cholesterol lowering agent in the growing Japanese functional food market, and we are excited to be adding the tablet version to the other formats,' said Tadayasu Furukawa, president of Kyowa Hakko's Food Company. 'We expect that its proven efficacy in lowering cholesterol will appeal to millions of consumers looking for effective dietary supplements.'

According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's National Cholesterol Education Program, about 50% of American adults have elevated blood cholesterol levels - one of the key risk factors for heart disease, the number one killer of both men and women in the US.

CSPHP is a novel cholesterol-lowering compound that combines soy protein hydrolysate and soy phospholipids to block the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine. CSPHP also has a unique property that increases the production of healthy HDL cholesterol in hypercholesterolemic volunteers.

Controlled trials, conducted among hypercholesterolemic volunteers, have indicated that 3g of CSPHP taken every day for one month reduced LDL-cholesterol by 17%, compared with a 13% reduction using the same quantity of plant sterol ester. A daily intake of 25g of soy protein resulted in a reduction of LDL-cholesterol by only 10%.