Mehmet Çavdar, Mahir Arslan, Meliha Çavdar
Türk Fen ve Sağlık Dergisi - 2025;6(3):242-248
In recent years, the increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases has accelerated the search for natural and effective strategies to regulate cholesterol metabolism. In this context, the hypocholesterolemic potential of probiotic microorganisms has attracted growing scientific attention. Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when consumed in adequate amounts, provide health benefits to the host. They are primarily composed of species from the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium genera. Numerous studies have demonstrated the ability of probiotic strains to affect cholesterol metabolism. They do so through a variety of underlying biochemical mechanisms. These include bile salt hydrolase activity for bile salt deconjugation, cholesterol assimilation and degradation, precipitation with secondary bile acids, binding to the microbial cell wall or membrane, and the effects of short-chain fatty acids produced during prebiotic fermentation. Several studies have reported that specific strains -particularly Lacticaseibacillus casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum -can effectively exert these effects. However, as most mechanisms have been investigated under in vitro conditions, their actual efficacy under physiological settings may be limited. Nonetheless, several human clinical trials have reported cholesterol-lowering effects of specific probiotic strains, although findings remain inconsistent and strain-dependent. This review examines the impact of probiotics on cholesterol metabolism in detail and analyzes the relevant mechanisms based on findings in the literature. The current evidence suggests that probiotics can exert cholesterol-lowering effects in a strain-specific manner. These results suggest that probiotics hold potential as adjunct therapeutic agents for hypercholesterolemia, supporting their possible role in cardiovascular risk reduction. Nevertheless, further controlled and long-term clinical studies are needed to confirm these effects and support their potential role in therapeutic administrations.
