Erratum: Cholesterol-Lowering Probiotics as Potential Biotherapeutics for Metabolic Diseases (Journal of Diabetes Research (2012) 2012 (902917) DOI: 10.1155/2012/902917)

Abstract

The article titled "Cholesterol-Lowering Probiotics as Potential Biotherapeutics for Metabolic Diseases"[1] was found to contain material from [2], as raised on PubPeer [5]. The article was also found to contain materials from other published work and to have missing attributions and errors in citations. The articles are as follows: (i) Máire Begley, Colin Hill and Cormac G. M. Gahan, "Bile Salt Hydrolase Activity in Probiotics,"doi: 10.1128/AEM.72.3.1729-1738.2006. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. March 2006 vol. 72 no. 3 1729-1738 [2]. (ii) Ooi, L.-G.; Liong, M.-T. Cholesterol-Lowering Effects of Probiotics and Prebiotics: A Review of in Vivo and in Vitro Findings. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2010, 11, 2499-2522 [3]. (iii) M Ratna Sudha, Prashant Chauhan, Kalpana Dixit, Sekhar Babu, Kaiser Jamil, "Probiotics as complementary therapy for hypercholesterolemia,"Biology and Medicine, 1 (4): Rev4, 2009 [4]. The authors apologize for these errors and the corrected version of the article is shown below: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are among the prime causes of deaths in adults, especially in Western world human populations. High serum lipid levels are the principal causes of CVD and associated disabilities. In vivo studies comprising of model animals and clinical trials have revealed the connection between high cholesterol levels and increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Nutrition strategies are aimed at preventing CVD warrant shifting to the diet that contains low levels of saturated fats. Undoubtedly, in experimental conditions, such as low-fat diet, it offers effective means of minimizing blood cholesterol levels on a population basis; these appear to be less effective in practice, primarily due to poor compliance owing to less taste and acceptance of the consumer. Due to the low consumer compliance, attempts are made to evolve alternative diets that assist in reducing the blood cholesterol levels. Fermented foods containing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) can possibly lessen the serum cholesterol and the risks associated with hypercholesterolemia. Probiotics have received considerable attention in view of their proclaimed health benefits, such as improved lactose utilization, resistance to gastrointestinal (GI) infections, suppression of inflammatory diseases and cancer, antidiabetic effects, and minimizing serum cholesterol. The possible mechanisms underlying cholesterol-lowering effects of probiotics include the assimilation and incorporation of cholesterol into dividing somatic cells of the host, deconjugation of bile salts via bile salt hydrolase (BSH) (EC 3.5.1.24), coprecipitation of cholesterol with deconjugated bile, and dietary fiber-mediated binding of the bile salts. This review discusses the mechanisms of actions of hypocholesterolemic activities of probiotics as well as the fermented foods that contain probiotics, thereby ultimately lowering the risk of cholesterol-mediated CHD and CVD.