The effect of foods containing refined Konjac meal on human lipid metabolism.

A total of 110 elderly people with hyperlipidemia were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The experimental group consumed an ordinary diet plus foods containing refined Konjac meal, and the control group consumed only the ordinary diet. The experiment was carried out for 45 days. The results indicate that for the experimental group blood levels of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were significantly lowered (P less than 0.01) at the end of the trial, whereas high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and apoprotein (AI) levels were significantly elevated (P less than 0.01). In contrast, for the control group, the changes in the above parameters were insignificant. The differences in TC, TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels between the two groups were statistically significant. The effects of refined Konjac meal on lipid levels in the blood were somewhat different between patients with hyperlipidemia and subjects with risk critical values only. For the former, TG and TC were decreased by 83.8 +/- 133.5 mg/dl, and 42.4 +/- 23.4 mg/dl, respectively; but for the latter, they are decreased only by -1.1 +/- 23.1 mg/dl and 8.3 +/- 18.2 mg/dl, respectively; the difference mentioned above is statistically significant (P less than 0.01).