Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2018 Oct 1;122(7):1169-1174.
doi: 10.1016/j.amjcard.2018.06.040. Epub 2018 Jul 4.

Meta-Analysis of Usefulness of Psyllium Fiber as Adjuvant Antilipid Therapy to Enhance Cholesterol Lowering Efficacy of Statins

Jose Brum  1 , David Ramsey  1 , Johnson McRorie  1 , Brent Bauer  2 , Stephen Louis Kopecky  3
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Meta-Analysis of Usefulness of Psyllium Fiber as Adjuvant Antilipid Therapy to Enhance Cholesterol Lowering Efficacy of Statins

Jose Brum et al. Am J Cardiol. .

Abstract

Statins are usually well-tolerated drugs with a clear dose-dependent efficacy. However, manifestation of statin's side effects also bears a direct relation to higher doses necessary to achieve high impact cholesterol-lowering effects. Nevertheless, the reliance on statin efficacy alone has often left dietary intervention underutilized even though studies have shown a reduction in serum cholesterol levels when dietary fiber intake is increased. In this meta-analysis, we investigated whether the concomitant use of psyllium, a gel-forming viscous soluble fiber, would cause further overall cholesterol lowering in subjects already receiving statins. A systematic review of the medical literature was performed and identified three randomized, controlled clinical studies that evaluated the cholesterol lowering efficacy of statins when given concomitantly with psyllium as a fiber supplement. The duration of the studies ranged from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. The objective of the meta-analysis was to estimate the overall effect of psyllium plus statin versus statin alone. The results of the meta-analysis showed a clinically and statistically significant (p = 0.001) cholesterol lowering advantage for psyllium plus statin combination treatment over a statin alone. Adding psyllium fiber resulted in reductions in low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol equivalent to doubling the statin dose. In conclusion, the data support that psyllium fiber takenbefore meals adds to the efficacy of statins, providing an easy to implement dietary intervention for those who cannot tolerate side effects associated with higher-dose statins.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources