In 2002, Gallaher et al. (2002) studied the effect of
konjac glucomannan and chitosan complex on lipid profile of
21 overweight normocholesterolemic subjects. The subjects
were fed with 2.4 g/day of a supplement containing equal
amounts of KGM and chitosan for a period of 28 days without
changing normal dietary and activity pattern of the subjects
during the study. Serum lipids were measured during the
initial (day 7) and final supplementing period (after 28 days).
Reducing serum cholesterol (TC, 7%; LDL-C, 10%) to a degree
beyond that of most soluble fibers in a population was likely
to be unresponsive (overweight normocholesterolemic subjects), it suggested that this supplement was a potent cholesterol lowering agent. However, it would not be possible to
tell whether the effects were due to the KGM, or chitosan, or a
mixture of both as used in this study.