Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was to determine the hypocholesterolemic effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus RP32 (ATCC 43121), Streptococcus thermophilus OSU-1, and oat β-glucan in different combinations of six treatments on serum cholesterol in pigs fed a high cholesterol diet for 14 days. Additionally the immune enhancing effects of four of the treatments were tested. Serum IgA, IgG, and IgM were measured.

Findings and conclusions. The results for both the cholesterol study and immunological study were highly variable. Because of variability among animals with respect to initial levels of serum cholesterol there were no overall significant effects. However, the mean levels of cholesterol tended to decrease in milk and fermented milk containing L. acidophilus while the respective controls tended to increase. Statistically, for pigs in a group with low cholesterol initially, the treatment containing cells of Lactobacillus acidophilus resulted in a decrease in serum cholesterol from day 7 to day 14. There were no other statistically significant results for controlling serum cholesterol. Both IgA and IgG were increased by treatments containing either Lactobacillus acidophilus or Streptococcus thermophilus. There were no statistically significant changes in IgM levels.