Plant Sterol for cholesterol, what is, and how it helps to lower cholesterol. Let’s learn more about it in this article. Plant Sterol or “phytosterols” is a group of chemicals naturally occurring in plants. Phytosterols are also found in small quantities in vegetable oils including corn oil, soybean oil, and sea buckthorn oil.
Many scientific research studies have identified that phytosterols have excellent cholesterol-lowering properties.
What they do is inhibit the incorporation of cholesterol molecules into micelles in the gastrointestinal system and thus reduce cholesterol absorption. Regular consumption of this kind of sterols helps the body to control its total cholesterol levels including bad or LDL cholesterol.
This is why you will find many products like breakfast cereals, butter, and margarine enriched with phytosterols to help in keeping cholesterol levels within normal ranges.
There is a number of research studies conducted to evaluate the efficacy of phytosterols in reducing cholesterol.
To date, when phytosterols are being consummated on a regular daily basis, this has been shown effective in reducing the risk of heart disease by 25%. Moreover, excellent results in lowering cholesterol absorption by 33% to 42% have been associated if phytosterols are being used regularly.
In a similar vein, another study found that phytosterols can reduce cholesterol by 10% to 15%.
Plant sterol is a normal part of a plant’s cell membrane and is naturally found in vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. Unfortunately, to enjoy their cholesterol-lowering properties, you will need to take a large number of such foods because only small amounts are present in these natural foods.
You would need to eat at least 100 pounds of vegetables to get only 2 grams of phytosterols. This is why having a supplement natural product with this type of sterols as its ingredient is an easy way to provide your required amount.
So how many plant sterols do you need to keep your cholesterol at healthy levels?
Well, about two servings or a total of 800 milligrams of phytosterols per day is the desired amount in the diet. You don’t need to eat a lot of vegetables, fruits, or other foods to get the desired amount of phytosterols if you use a natural supplement that contains them