Plant sterols are the main lipid component in human diet. They are physically purified from corn, soybeans, brown rice and other cereals. It has the characteristics of high nutritional value and strong physiological activity. Among them, the phytosterol content in corn oil is relatively high.
Plant sterols for cholesterol
Phytosterols are beneficial substances involved in human metabolism and have strong anti-inflammatory effects. They can hinder the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine and cause cholesterol to be excreted from the body, thereby preventing cardiovascular diseases.
Secondly, plant sterols have the effect of preventing high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and hyperglycemia.
In addition, phytosterols are also important raw materials for the production of steroid drugs and vitamin D3.
Phytosterols are widely used in food, medicine, cosmetics, animal growth agents, paper processing, printing, textile and other fields. They are especially commonly used as food additives in Europe.
Foods with plant sterols
The best source is corn germ oil.
As a recommended oil by the World Health Organization, corn germ oil has its unique advantages:
First of all, many cereals contain phytosterols, but the content is too small. Only corn oil has the highest phytosterol content. In addition, edible oil is an indispensable cooking material for people's daily lives. Among A, B, and C oil types, you must always choose one type of edible oil. In this case, why not choose healthy corn germ oil?
However, the phytosterols contained in corn oil vary in content from brand to brand due to different processing techniques. Generally speaking, the refining of edible oil will cause the loss of some phytosterols, but edible oil is refined only once, so the loss is not large.
Our company has a corn germ oil production base. We adopt the internationally advanced low-temperature pressing process. From corn kernels to the production and refining of corn germ oil, the entire process is monitored and fully automated. The phytosterols contained in corn germ oil are well preserved.
In recent years, more and more scientific researchers have paid attention to the development and application of analytical technologies for foods and plants containing phytosterols.
Reference
[1]. Gorassini A, Verardo G, Bortolomeazzi R. Polymeric reversed phase and small particle size silica gel solid phase extractions for rapid analysis of sterols and triterpene dialcohols in olive oils by GC-FID[J]. Food chemistry, 2019, 283: 177-182.
[2]. Zhang R, Han Y, McClements D J, et al. Production, characterization, delivery, and cholesterol-lowering mechanism of phytosterols: A review[J]. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2022, 70(8): 2483-2494.
