The Effect of Viscous Dietary Fibers on LDL-cholesterol

Inclusion Criteria: * Must be a randomized controlled clinical trial with either a parallel or cross-over design * have a treatment period of at least 3 weeks * Hypercholesterolemic or normocholesterolemic adults, overweight and obese individuals or individuals with diabetes were all acceptable * Sources from β-glucan oats, β-glucan barley, konjac, psyllium, guar gum, and pectin were accepted * The amount of soluble fiber must be reported or measured or must be computable. * Must be appropriately controlled. * Must measure one of LDL-C, non-HDL-C or ApoB. These lipid measures can be either primary or secondary outcomes. * Enough information must be provided to calculate the magnitude of effect, i.e. end of treatment measures and/or change from baseline measures Exclusion Criteria: * If the study was insufficiently controlled, i.e. the control was another soluble fiber * If the soluble fiber was a combination supplement or in whole food sources where the amount of soluble fiber could not be isolated * If the outcome measures did not include LDL-C, non-HDL-C or ApoB * If the treatment period was less than 3 weeks * If the study was from a non-adult population * If the study provided insufficient information to calculate a magnitude of effect * Secondary information such as reviews, editorials, commentaries, were excluded * If the dose was less than 0.4g/day