Fitoesteroles circulantes: biomarcadores de la absorción de los esteroles de la dieta habitual y de adherencia a alimentos suplementados con esteroles vegetales

Introduction

Foods enriched with ∼2 g of phytosterols have an obvious cholesterol-lowering effect. Although they are less known, the phytosterols of natural foods in the normal diet also help to reduce cholesterol. Taking phytosterols increases its plasma concentrations, especially those of sitosterol, which is the most abundant.

Objectives

To analyse the relation between the consumption of phytosterols from food, both in the normal diet and after taking supplemented foods, with phytosterolaemia and its relation with plasma lipids.

Design

The first work is a clinical study over a period of one year with 114 participants in the PREDIMED intervention study with a Mediterranean diet and, therefore, with food rich in phytosterols. The second work is a transversal observational study of 883 individuals from the Spanish group of the EPIC study. The third is a cross study of dietary intervention with a control group carried out on 56 subjects with hypercholesterolaemia who consumed milk supplemented with 2 g of phytosterols or a placebo.

Results and conclusions

The increase in the consumption of phytosterols, with their normal diet or with supplemented foods, is associated to high concentrations of sitosterol in plasma and which are inversely related with the concentrations of lathosterol, a cholesterol synthesis marker. In turn, the high counts of circulating sitosterol are associated with a better lipid profile and are markers of a healthy diet, with a high intake of vegetable foods, or else they reflect the adherence to the consumption of foods supplemented with phytosterols.