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It is increasingly clear that North Americans prefer dietary approaches to enhance health in favour of pharmaceutical approaches. Although the incorporation of phytosterols (PS) into various food matrices has been effective in lowering cholesterol, the lipid-lowering potential of PS-enriched soymilk has not been investigated. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the lipid-lowering efficacy of a PS-enriched soymilk beverage in comparison to a 1% dairy milk control. Twenty-three hypercholesterolemic subjects consumed 3 tetrapacks per day of a PS-enriched soy beverage (1.95g PS/d) or a 1% dairy milk control. The study was conducted as a 28 d controlled dietary intervention according to a two-period cross-over design. Total cholesterol was reduced by 12% (P< 0.0001) in the PS-enriched soymilk group (5.59±0.27 mmol/L) in comparison to the milk control (6.28±0.27 mmol/L). PS-enriched soymilk consumption did not affect HDL cholesterol concentrations but did reduce (P<0.0001) LDL cholesterol by 16% compared to the control group (3.60 vs. 4.20 mmol/L). Plasma triglyceride concentration was reduced (P =0.02) by 9.4% in response to the PS-enriched soy beverage in comparison to the milk control. We conclude that consumption of a PS-enriched soy beverage is an effective dietary strategy to reduce circulating lipid levels in hypercholesterolemic individuals. Supported by WhiteWave Foods Company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]