Effect of herbal drink plants Tiwai (Eleutherine Americana Merr) on lipid profile of hypercholesterolemia patients

Tiwai (Eleutherine americana Merr) is a medical plant which has indicated potentially as hypercholesterolemia medicine. This research was aimed to investigate the cholesterol-lowering ability of Tiwai Herbal Drink (THD) in human bloods. Two weeks clinical observation was conducted with 12 volunteers. The volunteers are in age between 40 and 65 years old with a cholesterol level above 220 mg/dL, and are not currently using any cholesterol-lowering drugs. The study was divided into two periods, first week as a control (without giving THD) and the second week was treated with THD two times a day. THD were prepared in dried and brewed before drink. The serum cholesterol was measured before, during and after volunteers drank THD. The collections of blood sample are taken before and after treatment. Paired-sample t test were used to determine the comparability of value of THD and control group. The results conclude that consumption of THD for 7 days could reduce 5.33 mg/dL of total cholesterol in comparison to control but not HDL, LDL and Triacylglycerol. The ratio of HDL/LDL ranged between 0.26-0.56. The THD may reduce total cholesterol patients following a good diet with 2 times day consumption.