2023-12-20 11:20:38
Home > Health advice > Are phytosterols effective?
Laëtitia Kermarrec
written on December 20, 2023 at 12:20 p.m. The effect of phytosterols on cholesterol levels is not as simple and straightforward as originally thought. Article published in newspaper nº 119
Following scientific studies demonstrating that phytosterols can reduce plasma cholesterol levels, manufacturers quickly developed foods enriched with phytosterols and obtained the right to make health claims on them. But can we trust it? We must disentangle the true from the false.
THE phytosterols, plant sterols, are molecules equivalent to human cholesterol in plants. These fat-soluble compounds, very present in oleaginous fruits, oilseeds and oils, have a structure similar to that of cholesterol.
More than fifty years ago, researchers realized that phytosterols, when consumed by humans, use the same transporters as cholesterol to be absorbed by the body. After a meal, the cholesterol present in the diet is metabolized and stored in the liver, in reserve. Then, it is secreted once more by the liver when the body needs it.
This scientific discovery was a godsend: it meant that, by using the same transport route as cholesterol, the phytosterol competed with it to pass into the blood. No longer able to be absorbed, the blocked cholesterol was then returned to second place, eliminated in the toilet, which reduced its plasma level. In addition to this competition, scientists have shown that phytosterols can also directly block the absorption of cholesterol by cocrystallizing with the molecule in the intestine (intestinal lumen), also leading to its elimination in the feces.
Read also Confidential cholesterol?
Fortified foods
This is a crucial avenue of research for the development of “treatments ” once morest hypercholesterolemiathat is to say the excess presence in the blood of “bad “cholesterol, this fatty substance of the LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein) type which causes more serious disorders such as atherosclerosis in those under 60 years old1.
This is why, following this discovery, we saw a proliferation on the market some products “enriched with phytosterols “. In the European Union, these products are subject to global food law. They can be freely purchased by the…
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