What are plant sterols?
Plant sterols are natural compounds found in nuts, vegetable oils, whole grains, fruit and vegetables. They have a similar chemical structure to food cholesterol. But rather than increasing blood cholesterol, they compete with dietary cholesterol in the intestine for absorption into the blood stream. That means less food cholesterol gets absorbed into the blood.
In fact, plant sterols have been shown to reduce the absorption of dietary cholesterol by about 50 percent. And with less cholesterol available to make hormones, bile acids and vitamin D, the body is forced to pull cholesterol from the blood for these important functions.
How much can they lower your blood cholesterol?
Studies have consistently shown that consuming plant sterols in sufficient amounts can lower LDL cholesterol by up to 15 percent after three weeks when combined with a healthy diet.
The cholesterol-lowering effect of plant sterols varies widely among individuals. Studies have found that people with high to very high blood cholesterol experience a much greater cholesterol-lowering effect than those with borderline high cholesterol.
Can you get plant sterols naturally?
No, you can't. A typical diet provides about 0.2 milligrams of plant sterols, far less from the amount needed to cut cholesterol levels. Based on the available evidence, an intake of 2 to 3 grams per day is needed to lower LDL cholesterol. That's the equivalent of 100 pounds of raw vegetables per day!
So can you take a supplement?
There are plant sterol supplements available, but they are not easy to find. And the dose tends to be low. The good news is that you can get plant sterol fortified foods now. Last June, Health Canada gave food companies the green light to fortify certain foods with plant sterols to help Canadians consume sufficiently high levels needed to lower cholesterol.
So far a few companies have taken advantage of the new regulation. Unilever launched Becel pro-active margarine with plant sterols and President's Choice also has margarine. And yogurt companies have followed suit. You can now buy Astro Biobest with plant sterols. And just a week ago Danone introduced Danacol, a drinkable yogurt with plant sterols. President's Choice Blue Menu also has a plant sterol fortified yogurt. And Oasis has a fruit juice with plant sterols.
That's just the beginning. I think you can expect to see spreads, mayonnaise, salad dressings and more brands of fruit juices with added plant sterols.
So how much of these foods do you need to eat to lower cholesterol?
Adults need 2 grams of plant sterols per day to lower LDL cholesterol. (Children with elevated blood cholesterol can safely consume 1 gram of plant sterols daily.)
You'll get 2 grams in five teaspoons (25 ml) of Becel pro-activ margarine – that's 75 calories worth. You'll also need 5 teaspoons of President's Choice Blue Menu Celeb margarine with plant sterols – 175 calories.
If you don't use margarine, you can get 2 grams of plant sterols in two 100 gram containers of Astro Biobest, two 80 ml servings of Danacol, two servings of President's Choice Blue Menu yogurt with plant sterols, or 2 cups (500 ml) of Oasis CholestPrevent juice. Now that there's a variety of products you don't have to rely on eating multiple servings of one food to get 2 grams of plant sterols; you can have 1 yogurt and 1 serving of fruit juice or 1 yogurt and 2.5 teaspoons of margarine.
For the best results, it's best to consume plant sterol fortified foods two or three times per day rather than only once.
Plant sterols are not a magic bullet. You can't chase your cheeseburger and fries with a Danacol and expect to have a healthy heart. It's still important to follow a heart healthy diet and include other foods that lower cholesterol. If you do this in combination with plant sterols you'll get a larger drop in LDL cholesterol.
