Phytosterol and its esters as novel food ingredients: A review

Phytosterols or stanols are large group of compounds found exclusively in plants. These are naturally present in plants and are structurally similar to cholesterol. A daily intake of 3 g of phytosterol (or their reduced form stanols) is associated with consistent and reproducible reduction in LDL cholesterol concentrations upto 10% and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by 20% over a lifetime. Studies have concluded thatthe effective doses for reduction of cholesterolare between 1.5 and 3g/day, leading to decrease in 8% and 15% of LDL-cholesterol. The principal mechanism of action is based on interference with the solubilization of the cholesterol in the intestinal mucosa. Several studies have validated the cholesterol lowering effect of phytosterols and stanols along with its role in prevention of coronary heart diseases. Plant sterols and stanols appear to be unhazardous to health in a large number of human studies and no evidence of toxicity even at high dose levels has been reported. Changing lifestyle, constant stress and risk towards various diseases have necessitated the need of such vital neutraceuticals to be incorporated in diet and daily food items. Such new foods and formulations should pave the way for greater use of phytosterols in heart health promotion, increasing the long term potential for the creation of innovative functional foods containing plant sterols and their derivatives.