Sterols occur in most plant species. Although green and yellow vegetables contain significant amounts, their seeds concentrate the sterols. Most of the research on these valuable phytonutrients has been done on the seeds of pumpkins, yams, soy, rice and herbs. Phytosterols compete with dietary cholesterol for uptake in the intestines. They have demonstrated the ability to block the uptake of cholesterol (to which they are structurally related) and facilitate its excretion from the body. Cholesterol has long been implicated as a significant risk factor in cardiovascular disease. Are other dietary factors important as well?

    To answer this question, a research team in Los Angeles conducted a study to test the importance of other dietary factors in modifying the risk of cholesterol levels. They compared the diets of 169 Seventh Day Adventists—vegans, lacto-ovo and non-vegetarians—with general population non-vegetarians all living in Los Angeles in the mid 1980s. It was found that the ratio between dietary plant phytosterols and cholesterol was significantly lower in SDA vegetarians as compared to non-vegetarians. The importance of this study underlies the fact that cholesterol, per se, is not the only marker of risk for cardiovascular disease and that its ratio with other modifying dietary components may be a better measure of risk.⁶

    Other investigations have revealed that phytosterols block the development of tumors in colon, breast and prostate glands. The mechanisms by which this occurs are not well understood, but we do know that phytosterols appear to alter cell membrane transfer in tumor growth and reduce inflammation.

6. Nair, P., et al, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 40 (4 Suppl): 927-30, Oct., 1984.

—courtesy of Austin Nutritional research