A randomized controlled clinical trial conducted at Mayo Clinic and the University of Manitoba — published in The Journal of Nutrition.
Highest individual response in 30 days
Saw measurable LDL reduction
Two servings per day
Unprecedented in nutrition trials
Most nutrition studies are conducted in controlled lab settings. Ours wasn't. Our randomized, controlled trial was conducted in a free-living population — people going about their normal lives. No controlled diets. No supervised meals. Just Step One Foods, twice a day, as part of their regular eating plan.
Conducted in a free-living population — people going about their normal lives, no controlled diets, no supervised meals.
Participants were randomly assigned to Step One Foods or a control group, with cholesterol measured before and after.
The control group ate commercially available foods marketed as heart-healthy — not a placebo.
Measurable LDL reduction in just 4 weeks. Most cholesterol-lowering interventions take months.
Unlike statins — which cause side effects in approximately 9% of users — our trial reported zero adverse effects.
Published in peer-reviewed medical literature. Not a blog post. Not a press release.
Read the published study →The control group ate commercially available foods marketed as heart-healthy — the kind of products most people already reach for. Step One Foods still produced statistically significant improvements over these "healthy" alternatives.
That means the bar wasn't "does this food do anything?" It was "does this food do more than what people already think is working?" The answer was a definitive yes.
The 8.8% average LDL reduction seen in the trial is truly meaningful — if we were to reduce the average LDL of the U.S. population by 8.8%, we would finally dethrone heart disease as our number one killer.
What's also striking is that some participants achieved 20%, 30%, even nearly 40% LDL reductions in just 4 weeks — comparable to what's expected with prescription medication. For people who can't tolerate statins, don't want to take them, or aren't reaching their LDL goal despite maximum tolerated medical therapy, that's a potential game changer.
And critically: 95% of participants stayed on the program. Compare that to typical diet-trial adherence in the 30–50% range. Adherence is what separates a study from a real solution.
Compliance is the single biggest predictor of health outcomes. Statins have a 50% discontinuation rate within one year. Supplements are routinely skipped. Step One Foods achieved exceptionally high adherence in the clinical trial — because eating delicious food isn't hard.
They weren't forcing compliance.
Step One Foods substitute for what you already eat.
No pill organizers, no protocol fatigue.
Voluntary continuation is the ultimate adherence signal.
A successful trial result is one thing. These customers — eating Step One Foods exactly as the protocol prescribes — have seen similar results.
*Individual results may vary. Trial average was 8.8% LDL reduction; 80% of participants saw measurable LDL reduction in 30 days.
Enter your current LDL and explore the range of responses possible — from the 8.8% average to the 37.6% maximum — as observed in the Mayo Clinic trial.
Optimal is < 100 mg/dL. Most adults with elevated cholesterol fall between 130–190.
Estimate based on Cholesterol Treatment Trialists meta-analyses (~1% relative CHD risk reduction per 1% LDL drop). Individual results vary. Not medical advice — talk to your physician.
Our clinical trial is the headline. But behind it sits a vast body of peer-reviewed research — over 500 published studies on the individual ingredients and their impact on cardiometabolic health. We didn't guess at the formula. We built it from the evidence.
LDL reduction, glucose control
Inflammation, triglycerides
Cholesterol absorption blocking
Oxidative stress, vascular health
Name another food brand that has submitted its products to a randomized, controlled clinical trial at a world-leading institution. We'll wait. The level of scientific rigor we've applied to Step One Foods is simply unmatched in the food industry.
Step One Foods is the only food product backed by a Mayo Clinic-led clinical trial. Over 500 published studies support our formulations. Zero side effects. Measurable results in 30 days. There's nothing else like it.
A randomized, case-controlled, double-blind, crossover clinical trial at Mayo Clinic showed that two servings per day of Step One Foods produced an 8.8% average reduction in LDL cholesterol over 30 days. 80% of participants achieved a clinically meaningful LDL reduction. Results were published in the Journal of Nutrition (2022).
The clinical trial was conducted at Mayo Clinic by Dr. Stephen Kopecky and colleagues, and at the University of Manitoba by Dr. Peter Jones and colleagues. Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, founder of Step One Foods, was a co-author on the study. Step One Foods supplied the food products tested in the trial but had no control over the performance of the study.
Trial adherence was 95%, among the highest reported in dietary intervention research. This reflects participant willingness to keep eating Step One Foods over time.
Yes — Step One Foods is the only food brand whose cholesterol-lowering claim is supported by a case-controlled randomized clinical trial conducted in free-living adults at Mayo Clinic and the University of Manitoba.
Each serving delivers therapeutic doses of four bioactives shown in over 500 peer-reviewed studies to lower LDL: soluble fiber binds cholesterol in the gut, plant sterols block cholesterol absorption, omega-3 fatty acids support lipid metabolism, and antioxidants reduce oxidative damage to LDL particles.