Minute Maid (Houston) has launched Heart Wise, a new orange juice that claims to help consumers lower their cholesterol. Available in 64-oz. cartons in the chilled grocery aisles, Heart Wise will be priced comparably to “other Minute Maid Premium 64-oz. orange juice products,” says the company. The new launch comes in response to near-epidemic high cholesterol levels. Nearly half of the U.S. adult population has cholesterol at or above 200mg/dL, according to the American Heart Association (Dallas). Minute Maid claims a study “at a major medical center” found that participants significantly lowered their LDL (bad) cholesterol by consuming two 8-oz. servings of Heart Wise daily with meals for eight weeks. The benefits were found in men and women with normal to borderline high total cholesterol. Plant sterols in the new juice inhibit the absorption of cholesterol. Each 8-oz. serving of Heart Wise contains 1g of the plant extracts.
