Phytosterols in Human Nutrition

Phytosterols are cholesterol-like molecules found in all plant foods, with the highest concentrationsoccurring in vegetable oils. They are absorbed only in trace amounts but inhibit the absorption of intestinalcholesterol including recirculating endogenous biliary cholesterol, a key step in cholesterol elimination.Natural dietary intake varies from about 167-437 mg/day. Attempts to measure biological effects in feedingstudies have been impeded by limited solubility in both water and fat. Esterification of phytosterols withlong-chain fatty acids increases fat solubility by 10-fold and allows delivery of several grams daily in fattyfoods such as margarine. A dose of 2 g/day as the ester reduces low density lipoprotein cholesterol by 10%,and little difference is observed between Delta(5)-sterols and 5alpha-reduced sterols (stanols). Phytosterolscan also be dispersed in water after emulsification with lecithin and reduce cholesterol absorption whenadded to nonfat foods. In contrast to these supplementation studies, much less is known about the effect oflow phytosterol levels in the natural diet. However, reduction of cholesterol absorption can be measured at adose of only 150 mg during otherwise sterol-free test meals, suggesting that natural food phytosterols maybe clinically important. Current literature suggests that phytosterols are safe when added to the diet, andmeasured absorption and plasma levels are very small. Increasing the aggregate amount of phytosterolsconsumed in a variety of foods may be an important way of reducing population cholesterol levels andpreventing coronary heart disease.