The Cholesterol Lowering Effects of Strawberry (STR4)

The Cholesterol Lowering Effects of Strawberry: A Randomized Controlled Trial Establishing Strawberry's Role in Cardiovascular Health

Primary objective is to assess strawberry intake on LDL cholesterol and its association with atherosclerosis development.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

The trial is designed as a randomized, 2-arm, 2-sequence, within-subject, cross-over, chronic feeding study. The arms of the study will include regular consumption of a strawberry or strawberry-placebo powder equivalent to ~3.5 servings of strawberries/day (50g) freeze-dried strawberry powder (provided twice a day, 25 grams each time >6h apart).

A planned sample size of 50 men and women will be enrolled into the study. This study will require one initial screening visit, 4 study visits, and 6 weekly visits. This study will take approximately 12 weeks per subject to complete.

The initial screening visit will provide subject with the informed consent document and determine subject eligibility through anthropometric measurements, vital signs, fasting blood glucose test (finger prick), fasting blood draw, and completion of a survey relate to general eating, health, and exercise habits.

If willing and eligible to participate, a 3-day food record (2 weekdays and 1 weekend day) will be instructed at the Screening Visit and collected before study day 1 to assess subjects' baseline dietary intake pattern. Subjects will be instructed to follow a strictly limited polyphenolic diet for 7 days prior to the study and throughout their participation time, while maintaining their usual diet pattern and physical activity, with counseling by staff investigator and/or Registered Dietitian. A dinner meal will be provided the day before the study visit to control the second meal effect from the food and beverage intake of the night before the study visit.

Subject will arrive at the center in a fasted state for at least 10 hours, well hydrated and rested. Each study visit will require blood draws throughout the visit. After evaluation of subject's health status (via anthropometric, vital sign and blood glucose measurements and in-person interview), a Licensed health care professional will take a fasting blood draw with a butterfly needle. Subjects will be randomized to receive a placebo or treatment beverage based on randomized treatment sequences at 4 study visits. The sequences of receiving the beverage treatments at each visit will be randomly assigned to one of two of following sequences: placebo- treatment beverage or treatment beverage -placebo.

Each study visit will involve blood sample collection at time points 0h (fasting) for assessment of change in plasma lipid and lipoprotein markers. Each study visit will involve a 2 flow mediated dilatation procedure to assess endothelial function.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

46

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Illinois
      • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60616
        • Clinical Nutrition Research Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years to 69 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Men and post-menopausal women (without menses for 1 year) with moderate hypercholesterolemia as defined by LDL cholesterol between 115mg/dl-165mg/dl and total cholesterol >160mg/dl preferred but not to exceed 240mg/dl
  • 40-69 years of age
  • Body Mass Index (BMI) range from 25 to 38.9 kg/m2
  • Nonsmoker
  • No clinical evidence of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal or hepatic disease
  • Not taking any medications that would interfere with outcomes of the study, i.e. lipid lowering medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, dietary supplements, etc…
  • Able to provide informed consent
  • Able to comply and perform the procedures requested by the protocol
  • Weight stable: not gained or lost weight +/- 5 kg in previous 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Men and women who smoke
  • Past smokers: abstinence for minimum 2 years
  • Men and women with known or suspected food intolerance, allergies or hypersensitivity
  • Men and women known to have/diagnosed with diabetes mellitus
  • Men and women who have fasting blood glucose concentrations > 110mg/dL
  • Men and women who have uncontrolled blood pressure >120 mmHg/80 mmHg
  • Men and women with documented vascular disease, e.g., heart failure, myocardial infarction, stroke, angina, related surgeries, etc...
  • Men and women with cancer other than non-melanoma skin cancer in previous 5 years
  • Women who are known to be pregnant or who are intending to become pregnant over the course of the study
  • Women who are breast-feeding
  • Taking medication or dietary supplements that may interfere with the outcomes of the study; e.g., antioxidant supplement, anti-inflammation, lipid lowering medication, blood pressure lowering medication, etc... Subjects may choose to go off dietary supplements (requires 30 days washout); e.g., fish oil, probiotics, etc...
  • Men and women who have donated blood within 3 months of the Screening Visit and blood donors/participants for whom participation in this study will result in having donated more than 1500 milliliters of blood in the previous 12 months.
  • Men and women who are vegans
  • Substance (alcohol or drug) abuse within the last 2 years
  • Excessive coffee and tea consumers (> 4 cups/d) and polyphenol consumers (>2 cups fresh/day
  • Men and women who do excessive exercise regularly or athlete
  • Unstable weight: gained or lost weight +/- 5 kg in previous 3 months
  • Women who are taking unstable dose and brand of hormonal contraceptives and/or stable dose and brand less than 6 months.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: Placebo Treatment Beverage
Placebo Beverage
Placebo
Other Names:
  • Placebo Comparator
Active Comparator: Active Treatment Beverage
Strawberry
Strawberry
Other Names:
  • Active Comparator

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in plasma LDL cholesterol in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma LDL cholesterol
4 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in endothelial function as measured by Flow Medicated Vasodilation (FMD) in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
endothelial function as measured by Flow Medicated Vasodilation (FMD)
4 weeks

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in plasma total cholesterol in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma total cholesterol
4 weeks
Changes in plasma HDL cholesterol in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma HDL cholesterol
4 weeks
Changes in plasma triglycerides in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma triglycerides
4 weeks
Changes in plasma glucose in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma glucose
4 weeks
Changes in plasma insulin in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment.
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma insulin
4 weeks
Changes in plasma C-Reactive Protein in 4-week intervention of strawberries vs control treatment
Time Frame: 4 weeks
plasma C-Reactive Protein
4 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Britt Britt Burton-Freeman, Ph.D, Illinois Institute of Technology

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 4, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 16, 2017

Study Completion (Actual)

October 31, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 17, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 20, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

November 23, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 27, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 25, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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