This document discusses phytosterols, which are plant-derived compounds that can help lower cholesterol levels. It notes that India has a high rate of heart disease and discusses the roles of nutrition and nutraceuticals in reducing risk. Phytosterols are extracted mainly from vegetable oils and their chemical structures and mechanisms of cholesterol lowering are described. The document outlines food products enriched with phytosterols, regulations around their use, and recent related research news.

1. PHYTOSTEROLS
-AMMAR BABAR
-T.Y. B.Tech (Foods)
-11FET1009
-ICT ( MUMBAI)
-ammar2896@gmail.com

2. CONTENTS
 FACTS
 ROLE OF NUTRACEUTICALS
 DIFFERENTIATION
 INTRODUCTION
 CHEMICAL STRUCTURES
 EXTRACTION
 MECHANISM
 PRODUCTS
 REGULATIONS
 NEWS AND RESEARCH

3. FACTS!!!
 India ranks No.1 in the world for number of cardiac patients, with
10% of the population affected.
 The US and Europe are jointly No.2 with 7% each.
 WHO expects heart disease to be the single greatest killer in India
by 2015.
 Highest growth of heart disease is among young corporate
executives. Over 40% of urban Indians have high lipid levels.
 Additionally, 31% of urban Indians are either overweight or
obese.
 Costs related to heart disease exceed 60 billion dollars per year.

4. ROLE OF
NUTRACEUTICALS
Too much of cholesterol in your blood, it can build
up on the walls of your arteries causing various
heart related problems
Healthy diet plays an important role in lowering
the blood cholesterol levels.
Functional food having cholesterol lowering
action will be effective in lowering the risk of heart
diseases.
Thus we can have maximum benefits without
modification of diet.
Chemical drugs have many side-effects hence use
of natural substances (Nutraceuticals) is increasing.

5. PHYTOSTEROL
 It was recognized in 1950s that plant sterols lower
serum concentrations of cholesterol
 Naturally occur only in plant and soluble only in alcohol
 Phytosterol has two classes : sterols and stanols.
 Phytosterols, phytostanols and their esters (200types)
are a group of steroid alcohols and esters
 They hormones produced by the plants to help in
adaptation to different temperatures.

6. Chemical Structure
• They consist of a steroid skeleton with a hydroxyl group attached to the C-3
atom of the A-ring and an aliphatic side chain attached to the C-17 atom of the
D-ring. Sterols have a double bond, typically between C-5 and C-6 of the sterol
moiety, whereas this bond is saturated in phytostanols

7. Classification
Phytosterols has two classes
-Sterols
-Stanols (Saturated)
sitosterol campesterol
sitostanol campestanol

8. DIFFERENTIATION
PHYTOSTEROL CHOLESTEROL
Synthesized by plants only Synthesized by liver(from AcetylCoA) and it is also a
essential component of cell membrane
Helps plant to maintain the temperature Helps in maintaining membrane permeability and
fluidity
Helps to lower the Low Density Lipo-
protien(LDL) in the blood( by 10%)
Serves as a precursor for the biosynthesis of steroid
hormones, bile acids, and vitamin D.
Daily intake should be 1-2gm for
beneficial effects
Less than 200mg through diet since body also
synthesize it.

9. Dietary phytosterols
 The richest naturally occurring
sources of phytosterols are
vegetable oils and products made
from them.
 They can be present in the free
form and as esters of fatty
acid/cinnamic acid or as glycosides,
respectively.
 The bound form is usually
hydrolyzed in the small intestines
by pancreatic enzymes.
Phytosterol food
sources
Total phytosterol content
(mg/100g)
Oils
Rice bran 1055
Corn 952
Wheat germ 553
Flax seed 338
Cottonseed 327
Soybean 221
Peanut 206
Olive 176
Coconut 91
Palm 49

10. Vegetables (mg /100g)
Beet root 25
Brussels sprout 24
Cauliflower 18
Onion 15
Carrot 12
Cabbage 11
Yam 10
Fruits (mg/100g)
Orange 24
Banana 16
Apple 12
Cherry 12
Peach 10
Pear 8
Nuts (mg/ 100g)
Cashew 158
Almond 143
Pecan 108
Pistachio 108
Walnut 108
Legumes (mg/100g)
Pea 135
Kidney bean 127
Broad bean 124
The intake of naturally
occurring phytosterols ranges
between 150–450 mg/day

11. Extraction of Phytosterols
PHASE 1
1
• Deodorization lead in removal of volatiles and gives us a distillate that is rich in
free fatty acids, but also significant levels of tocopherols (5-15%) and
phytosterols (8-20%).
2
• Transesterification is carried out to give fatty acid methyl esters , and we get
free tocopherols and free phytosterols which are separated by distillation.
3
• The free tocopherols are separated from free phytosterols by solvent
crystallization and filtration

12. EXTRACTION:
VEGETABLE OIL
4
• Addition of MeOH:H2SO4 (50-80degC)
• Vigorous stirring for 2-6hrs
5
• Vaccum distillation of methanol
• Separation of H2SO4 by hot water washing
6
• Crystallization at 0-25degC for 1-10hrs
• Filtration then washing with hexane at
10deg
• Pure crystals of sterols
Publication
number US7632530 B2
Publication
type Grant
Application
number
US
11/373,933
Publication
date 15 Aug 2009
Filing date 13 Mar 2006
Priority date 8 April 2005
A process for the preparation of high purity
phytosterols from deodourizer distillate from vegetable
oils.
The yield of phytosterols obtained is in the range of
80-90% of free sterols available in with 95-99% purity.

13. Production of phytostanols
from phytosterols
• Phtosterols
(Pd/Pt at High pressure)
Phytostanols

14. Mechanism
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-ruFt-s_Bk

15. Mechanism of action
2) Phytosterol precipitates
marginally soluble
cholesterol into non
absorbable form in the
intestine.
1)Reduces the absorption of cholesterol
by competing with cholesterol for
incorporation into the bile salts micelles
or for uptaking of cholesterol by
enterocytes.
3) Phytosterols enhance cholesterol excretion
back into the intestinal lumen through the
ABC G5/G8 transporters
4)They could also prevent
esterification of free
cholesterol.

17. Other functions
PHYTOSTEROLS
4)reducing blood sugar
level and inflammation
1) Anticarcinogenic properties
2) Immune regulation
3)Reducing prostate
enlargement

18. Disease Method Result
Cardio vascular
disease
Involved persons with a family
history of hypercholesterolemia,
consuming spreads fortified with
1.8 to 2.8 grams
of sterols/stanols per day over a
period of 1-3 months
lowered total cholesterol by
seven to 11 percent.
Enlarged prostate Includes a six-month study of 200
men showing symptoms of
Enlarged prostate were given 60
mg/d of beta-sitosterol .
Increased peak urinary flow and
decreased post-void residual urine
volume compared to placebo.
rheumatoid arthritis 2mg of sterols/day for 3 months helping to decrease inflammation
and calm the overactive immune
response
Control blood sugar in
diabetes
2mg of sterols/day for 6-8
months
sitosterol has been shown to
normalize blood sugar and insulin
levels in Type II diabetics by
stimulating the release of insulin
in the presence of non-stimulatory
glucose concentrations, and
inhibiting glucose-6-phosphatase.

20. Enrichment of food products
with phytosterols
• Increased interest in phytosterols after canola oil- based
maragrine, enriched by sitostenol ester was introduced
comercially in Finland in 1995.
• Nowadays cream cheese, salad dressing and yoghurt are also
used.
• They can also be incorporated into baked products, fruit juice,
ice cream, and other vehicles.
• They are also being sold with other functional ingredients such
as fiber, healthy oils non- absorbable diacylglycerol, almonds,
soy protein and minerals.

21. Stability during processing
 Under harsh conditions (high temperature
i.e. >100˚C and in the presence of oxygen)
oxidation of phytosterols can take place.
 Microbiologically inert.
 Stable over wide pH range.

23. Food
product
3.4gm of Phytostanol
ester content in
( FAO REGULATION)
Spread 4 Slices
Yoghurt
drink
100 ml
Milk drink 250 ml
Rye bread 4 slices
Capsules 6capsules
Snack Bar 64 gm
Dressing 30 ml
In December 2004 the EU Commission published
Regulation 608/2004/EC concerning the labelling of
foods “with added plant sterols/plant stanols”
Manufacturer Brand name
Raisio Plc. Benecol ®
Cognis Vegapure ®
Lipofoods Lipophytol TM
Enzymotech Ltd. CardiaBeat TM
Pharmaconsult Oy Ltd Multibene ®

24. Conditions and restrictions
of use
 The Panel recommends that the products to which phytosterols are added
should be consumed only by people who want to lower their blood
cholesterol.
 The scientific justification of the claim is related to a daily intake of 2 g of
plant sterols added to fat-based food formats and low-fat foods such as
milk and yoghurt.
 Other food forms should be evaluated for their cholesterol-lowering
effect.
 Should follow labelling regulations issued by EU in Dec’04

25. DRUG INTERACTIONS
POSITIVE NEGATIVE
It shows synergistic action with statin therapy
drugs ( CHOLESTROL LOWERING)
Consumption of plant sterol- and stanol-
enriched foods at doses of 1.5 g/d or more
have not been found to have adverse effects
on fat-soluble vitamin status in well-nourished
populations.
Hence resulting in an additional 7-11%
reduction in LDL cholesterol.
A number of studies have observed 10-20%
reductions in plasma carotenoids after short-
term and long-term consumption of plant
sterol- or stanol-enriched foods

26. Adverse effects
 The product may not be nutritionally appropriate for pregnant
and breastfeeding women and children under the age of five
years; patients on cholesterol lowering medication should only
consume the product under medical supervision.
 Alteration in testosterone metabolism by inhibiting 5-alpha
reductase which converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone.
 High doses could potentially affect signal transduction or
membrane bound enzyme activity in the cells.
 Nausea, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, etc.

27. Recent news and research
 Phytosterols to be added in dark chocolates to produce a cholesterol-cutting product
capable of an FDA health claim
 Plant sterols can prevent Alzheimer’s disease
 Those who have asthma or other respiratory diseases should be careful, because many
supplements are made from soy, can trigger outbreaks.
 Phtosterols enriched Peanut butter - Dr. Atif Awad ( State University of New York at
Buffalo )
 Bunge’s Award winning Functional food – Phtosterol ( phtobake) in microwave pizzas

28. REFERENCES
• Cholesterol-lowering phytosterols: factors affecting their
use and efficacy by Timothy P Carr ,Mark M Ash ,Andrew
W Brown (26th july 2010).
• Phytosterols as functional food Components and
Nutraceuticals – Paresh C.Dutta
• Phytosterols, Phytostanols And Their Esters -chemical and
technical assessment by Richard Cantrill, Ph.D., reviewed
by Yoko Kawamura, Ph.D., for the 69th JECFA1
• Mechanisms of decreased cholesterol absorption
mediated by phytosterols in the intestinal lumen-Andrew
W. Brown University of Nebraska-Lincoln,(1-1-2011)

29. Reference
 http://www.raysahelian.com/phytosterols.html
 http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/agns/pdf/jecfa/cta/69/Phytosterols.p
df
 http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/doc/nda_op_ej781_art14_004_pla
nt_sterols-and_blood_cholesterol.pdf?ssbinary=true
 https://www.google.co.in/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad
=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDMQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ifst.org%2Fdocume
nt.aspx%3Fid%3D1481&ei=7gdGU5K-
HsGHrgeepYDgAw&usg=AFQjCNHtlRihogD3cZ4nab-
FjeVxyTkT1g&bvm=bv.64507335,d.bmk