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(Journal of Nutrition. 1999;129:2109-2112.)
© 1999 The American Society for Nutritional Sciences


Article

The Cholesterol-Lowering Action of Plant Stanol Esters

Tu T. Nguyen

Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism and Nutrition, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, Rochester, MN


    ABSTRACT
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Plant Sterols and Stanols...
 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 
Plant sterols and stanols derived from wood pulp and vegetable oils lower total and LDL cholesterol by inhibiting cholesterol absorption from the intestine in humans. Plant stanols are virtually unabsorbable, which makes them more ideal hypocholesterolemic agents than plant sterols. The esterification of plant stanols has allowed their incorporation into various foods such as margarine without changing the taste and texture of those foods. Plant stanol esters at a level of 2–3 g/d have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol by 10–15% without side effects. Plant stanol esters appear to be a helpful dietary adjunct to a prudent diet to lower cholesterol.


KEY WORDS: • sitostanol • sitosterol • cholesterol absorption • cholesterol


    INTRODUCTION
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Plant Sterols and Stanols...
 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 
The cholesterol-lowering effect of dietary plant sterols (phytosterols) has been studied since the 1950s and is well known (Lees et al. 1977Citation ). Earlier studies showed that large amounts of sitosterol (>=10 g/d) lowered serum cholesterol levels by 10–20%. The high dosage and the chalky taste of sitosterol limited its use, especially with the advent of the more powerful, well-tolerated, lipid-lowering 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors. Grundy and Mok (1976)Citation subsequently demonstrated that 3 g/d of sitosterol was sufficient to lower serum cholesterol levels. They suggested that plant sterols could be considered a form of dietary treatment rather than a drug to lower cholesterol because plant sterols are naturally present in plant-based foods.

The differences in the various plant sterols became apparent when saturated derivatives of plant sterols, called plant stanols, were shown to reduce serum cholesterol at low doses. New techniques allowed the incorporation of plant stanols into food forms without affecting the texture and taste. In 1995, the Finnish introduced plant stanol esters (PSE)2 in margarine, as dietary adjuncts to lower cholesterol (Cater and Grundy 1998Citation ).


    Plant Sterols and Stanols Structure and Function.
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Plant Sterols and Stanols...
 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 
Plant sterols are C-28 or C-29 sterols, differing from cholesterol (C-27) by the presence of an extra methyl or ethyl group on the cholesterol side chain (Fig. 1Citation ). Cholesterol is an essential component of cell membranes in higher species. Plant sterols play an analogous role in plants; their content is highest in edible oils, seeds and nuts (Weihrauch and Gardner 1978Citation ).



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Figure 1. Structures of sterols, including cholesterol and the plant sterols, sitosterol and campesterol, and the corresponding stanols, sitostanol and campestanol.

 
The major dietary sterols are sitosterol (C-29), campesterol (C-28) and stigmasterol (C-29). These represent <50% of the total intake of sterols in the Western diet; the remainder is cholesterol (Subbiah 1971Citation ). The most common dietary plant stanol, sitostanol, is a saturated derivative of sitosterol. It occurs naturally in wood pulp, tall oil and, in lesser amounts, in soybean oil. The Western daily diet contains 100–300 mg plant sterols and 20–50 mg plant stanols (Czubayko et al. 1991Citation ).

Absorption and metabolism.

The addition of a methyl or ethyl group on the side chain of cholesterol results in poor intestinal absorption of plant sterols in humans (Subbiah 1973Citation ). Thus, only 1.5–5% of sitosterol is absorbed when typical amounts of sterols are consumed (240–320 mg) (Kritchevsky 1997Citation ). Cholesterol absorption is much more efficient, with between 20 and 80% of dietary cholesterol absorbed. Differential absorption rates among plant sterols are related to the length of the side chain. The longer the side chain of the sterol, the less is absorbed because of its increased hydrophobicity (Heinemann et al. 1993Citation ). Serum levels of sitosterol are 0.3–1.7 mg/dL (Glueck et al. 1991Citation , Salen et al. 1970Citation ), given a dietary intake of 160–360 mg/d of plant sterols. This wide range in a normal population suggests considerable individual variability in the handling of various plant sterols. Consumption of 3.24 g/d of plant sterols has been shown to increase serum sitosterol and campesterol levels by an average of 40 and 70%, respectively (Westrate and Meijer 1998Citation ). Because dietary plant sterols can initiate the development of atherosclerosis (Bhattacharyya and Connor 1974Citation ) and may increase the risk of premature coronary heart disease (CHD) in hypercholesterolemic patients (Glueck et al. 1991Citation ), the lowest serum levels of sterols are desirable. Thus, Lees and Lees (1976)Citation suggested that plant sterol preparations that contain more absorbable sterols such as campesterol should not be recommended for therapeutic use.

Hydrogenation of plant sterols to the corresponding stanols renders them virtually unabsorbable (Subbiah 1973Citation ). Absorption of sitostanol has been estimated to be between 0 and 3%, and serum levels are practically undetectable (Gylling et al. 1999Citation , Westrate and Meijer 1998Citation ). The absorption of the other major stanol, campestanol, is also very low, in contrast to its unsaturated counterpart, campesterol (Xu et al. 1999Citation ).

Mechanism of action.

Plant sterols interfere with the uptake of both dietary and biliary cholesterol from the intestinal tract in humans (Heinemann et al. 1991Citation ). The reason for this is not fully understood; however, plant sterols appear to decrease the solubility of cholesterol in the oil and micellar phases, thus displacing cholesterol from bile salt micelles and interfering with its absorption (Ikeda and Sugano 1998Citation ). In humans, intestinal infusion of sitostanol was more efficient in reducing cholesterol absorption than infusion of sitosterol (-85% and -50%, respectively) (Heinemann et al. 1991Citation ). In addition, Becker et al. (1993)Citation showed that 1.5 g/d of sitostanol increased fecal secretion of neutral and acid steroids more effectively (88%) than did 6 g/d of sitosterol (45%).

It has been proposed that sitostanol, which is relatively unabsorbable compared with sitosterol, remains in the intestinal lumen where it can interfere continuously and more efficiently with micellar solubility of cholesterol (Ikeda and Sugano 1998Citation ). Another important determinant of the effectiveness of these compounds is how well they mix with intestinal contents for proper physical presentation to the gut. When compared with the unesterified stanols, the fatty acid esters of stanols seem to mix more easily with the oil phase of the intestinal contents to interfere with cholesterol absorption and decrease plasma cholesterol concentrations (Vanhanen et al. 1993Citation ).

In addition to reducing absorption of cholesterol, plant stanols inhibit absorption of other plant sterols (Gylling et al. 1999Citation ). In humans, the inhibition of intestinal cholesterol absorption is accompanied by a compensatory increase in cholesterol synthesis, as reflected in the increase in the serum cholesterol precursors, lathosterol and desmosterol. However, the net effect is still reduction in serum cholesterol.


    Hypocholesterolemic Effect of Plant Sterols and Stanols.
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Plant Sterols and Stanols...
 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 
The lower absorbability of sitostanol is thought to be responsible for its greater hypocholesterolemic effect compared with sitosterol and campesterol (Jones et al. 1997Citation ) In addition, Vanhanen et al. (1994)Citation showed that the ester form of sitostanol is more efficient than the crystalline form. Indeed, in the only study that showed no significant cholesterol-lowering effect with 3g/d of sitostanol, sitostanol was given in a crystalline form that may have limited its efficacy (Denke 1995Citation ).

Miettinen and co-workers (1995)Citation esterified sitostanol into rapeseed oil fatty acids, thus allowing them to put a large amount into margarine without affecting its texture or taste. Table 1Citation summarizes the clinical studies with PSE in various populations. The majority of the early studies on stanol ester–fortified foods were done in Finnish population studies. PSE dosages have ranged in various studies from 0.8 to 3.8 g/d. The data suggest that at least 1 g/d of stanol esters must be consumed to offer a good clinical response. In general, with consumption of 2–3 g/d of PSE, serum LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were lowered between 10 and 15%. It is difficult to compare these studies in terms of dose response because of differences in background diet, baseline lipid levels and duration of treatment. It has been suggested that consumption of >3 g/d of PSE may not further decrease the cholesterol-lowering effect (Mensink and Plat 1998Citation ). The narrow range of dose responsiveness may be due to the compensatory increase in cholesterol synthesis that can be observed after consumption of higher doses of plant sterols and stanols. Indeed, Vanhanen et al. (1994)Citation calculated that intake of 2 g/d of sitostanol esters increased cholesterol synthesis by 2 mg/(d · kg body weight), although there was still a net reduction in serum cholesterol. This was not seen with 0.8 g/d of sitostanol esters.


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Table 1. Summary of clinical studies with plant stanol esters (PSE)

 
Only a few studies have evaluated directly the dose-response relationship of PSE. Miettinen et al. (1995)Citation compared 1.8 and 2.6 g/d of PSE and showed a significantly greater cholesterol-lowering effect of the higher dose on total cholesterol (TC) (10.2% with 2.6 g/d vs. 9.3% with 1.8 g/d), although the difference was small. Nguyen et al. (1998)Citation showed a trend for greater efficacy of 3 g/d of PSE (n = 20) compared with 2.1 g/d of PSE (n = 19). There was a reduction in TC of 9.4 and 5.6%, respectively, after 8 wk, compared with placebo. More studies are required to test the optimal intake of PSE to lower serum cholesterol, particularly above 3.7 g/d.

Most studies comparing plant stanols with plant sterols have shown the greater potency of plant stanols in lowering serum cholesterol. One notable exception is a crossover, randomized study by Westrate and Meijer (1998)Citation ; that study showed that soybean sterol ester margarine lowered LDL-C by 13%, as much as the plant stanol ester margarine, Benecol. However, the daily intake of plant sterols in the soybean preparation (3.24 g/d) was greater than that in Benecol (2.74 g/d). The fatty acid composition of the two differed as well. The soybean sterol ester margarine was lower in saturated fatty acids and contained more linoleic acid than does Benecol. It is well established that linoleic acid lowers blood cholesterol compared with other more saturated fatty acids (Mensink and Katan 1992Citation ). This difference in the fatty acid profiles of the spreads in that study may have underestimated the hypocholesterolemic effect of Benecol compared with the soybean sterol ester margarine by ~2% in TC and LDL-C reduction. Nevertheless, the cholesterol-lowering efficacy of plant stanols and plant sterols was quite comparable in that study. This may be due in part to the fact that the plant sterols were esterified. More studies are required to determine whether esterification can render plant sterols as effective as esterified plant stanols in lowering cholesterol.

PSE effect on other lipids.

In contrast to lowering TC and LDL-C, PSE did not exert a significant effect on HDL-C and TG in most studies (Jones et al. 1997Citation ). In a study of hypercholesterolemic type-2 diabetic patients, 3 g/d of PSE decreased VLDL cholesterol (VLDL-C) by 12%, intermediate density lipoprotein cholesterol (IDL-C) by 11%, whereas HDL-C increased by 11% (P < 0.05) (Gylling and Miettinen 1994Citation ). The reason for this is not entirely understood; however, it is thought to result from an increased removal of remnant particles by up-regulation of LDL receptor activity.

Determinants of response to stanol esters.

Which subjects would be most responsive to PSE? Several variables have been examined as potential predictors of response to PSE. Vanhanen et al. (1993)Citation showed that the decrease in LDL-C is greater in the apoprotein (apo) E-4 homozygote group than that in the apo E-3 homozygote group. This can be explained presumably by the fact that baseline cholesterol absorption is higher in subjects with the E-4 allele. On the other hand, the LDL-C reduction was shown to be similar for different apo E genotypes in 70 subjects consuming 3.7–3.8 g/d of PSE (Plat et al. 1998Citation ).

PSE appear to be most effective in lowering cholesterol in subjects with a high ability to absorb cholesterol and a lower cholesterol synthesis rate (Gylling et al. 1999Citation ). The degree of reduction in LDL-C by PSE has been shown to correlate significantly with the magnitude of the PSE effect on the efficiency of cholesterol absorption (Miettinen et al. 1995Citation ). In addition, subjects with high baseline cholesterol absorption, as reflected by high serum levels of plant sterols, had a greater cholesterol-lowering response to PSE. On the other hand, a high cholesterol synthesis rate at baseline predicted a smaller decrease in cholesterol absorption with consumption of PSE. These types of patients could potentially be identified by measuring serum levels of precursor sterols in cholesterol synthesis and serum levels of plant sterols such as campesterol and sitosterol. However, this is currently not a practical approach in a clinical setting.

Early studies of plant sterols in humans suggested that the relatively high dietary cholesterol concentrations (mean, 282–340 mg/d) may have contributed to the favorable results (Mattson et al. 1982Citation ). It has been suggested that the weak response in one study with crystalline sitostanol may have been explained by a low dietary cholesterol intake (<200 mg/dL) (Denke 1995Citation ). Most studies with PSE have been conducted in subjects after consumption of a diet higher in fat and cholesterol than the average American diet. In a landmark study with plant stanol ester margarine (Miettinen et al. 1995Citation ), the average saturated fat intake was 14% and cholesterol intake was 340 mg/d. The question arises whether plant stanols can be as effective during a period of more restricted dietary saturated fat and cholesterol intake. Hallikainen and Uusitupa (1999)Citation recently studied subjects consuming a diet that followed closely the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) step 2 diet, in which the mean total fat intake was 26%, saturated fat intake was 6.9% and cholesterol intake was 146 mg/d. They showed that >2 g/d of PSE lowered mean total and LDL-C by up to 10.6 and 13.7% respectively, compared with a control group.

Thus, PSE can reduce cholesterol even in the presence of a low dietary cholesterol intake (<200 mg/d), supporting the notion that PSE can interfere with the absorption of both dietary cholesterol and biliary cholesterol.

Hypocholesterolemic effect of PSE in combination with lipid-lowering drugs.

PSE appear to have a synergistic effect in lowering cholesterol when combined with lipid-lowering agents that act at other steps of lipid metabolism. The combination of 3 g/d of PSE with 10–20 mg of simvastatin reduced TC and LDL-C by an additional 11 and 16% respectively (Gylling et al. 1997Citation ). Of clinical significance, recent data suggest that subjects who had low cholesterol synthesis and high cholesterol absorption capacity at baseline were more likely to have a recurrent CHD event despite simvastatin treatment (Miettinen et al. 1996Citation ). It is tempting to speculate that combination treatment with PSE in those patients would improve the response and help prevent the recurrence of coronary events. However, the only pertinent atherosclerosis prevention data with plant stanols exist in animal models at present (Ikeda and Sugano 1998Citation ).


    Side Effects of Plant Stanols and Sterols.
 TOP
 ABSTRACT
 INTRODUCTION
 Plant Sterols and Stanols...
 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 
No significant side effects, including gastrointestinal side effects, have been observed with consumption of plant stanol esters. Consumption of stanol esters by humans in a 12-mo study showed excellent compliance without obvious side effect or weight gain (Miettinen et al. 1995Citation ). In addition, blood variables remained within normal range. Hypercholesterolemic children given sitostanol for 7 mo were also free from ill effects (Becker et al. 1993Citation ).

At high levels of intake, the potential exists for an estrogenic effect of plant sterols but not plant stanols. When sitosterol was injected into male rats, testicular weight and sperm concentration decreased (Malini and Vanithakumari 1991Citation ). An increase in the uterine weight of female rats (Malini and Vanithakumari 1993Citation ) and an increase in basal luteinizing hormone secretion in immature male and female rabbits were also observed (Register et al. 1995Citation ).

The clinical significance of these findings in humans is unknown. In contrast to sitosterol, sitostanol has not been found to have an estrogenic effect (Mellanen et al. 1996Citation ). Furthermore, in postmenopausal women who consumed 3 g/d of PSE margarine for 14 wk, there was no significant change in estradiol levels (Gylling and Miettinen 1998Citation ).

Effect on lipophilic dietary compounds.

Studies exist that have examined the effect of plant sterol esters and stanol esters on the absorption of lipophilic compounds such as ß-carotene and fat-soluble vitamins. Both plant sterols and stanols may lower serum concentrations of carotene (Gylling et al. 1996Citation , Westrate and Meijer 1998Citation ); however, this finding is not universal. Hallikainen and Uusitupa (1999)Citation observed no significant change in lipid standardized ß-carotene levels with PSE consumed as part of a NCEP step 2 diet. In other studies that have shown a significant effect on ß-carotene levels from PSE consumption, the subjects were consuming a higher fat intake. This suggests that increasing the intake of carotenoid-rich foods such as fruits and vegetables as part of a low fat diet can negate the decrease in ß-carotene levels that had been observed with PSE.

More significantly, PSE have not been shown to have a significant effect on the fat-soluble vitamin, retinol, for which ß-carotene is the precursor. Nor was there an effect on 25-OH vitamin D levels. {alpha}-Tocopherol levels were decreased with consumption of PSE; however, the lipid standardized {alpha}-tocopherol levels were unchanged. No effect of consumption of PSE on vitamin K–dependent hemostasis in anticoagulated patients has been seen (Nguyen and Dale 1999Citation ). Finally, no drug interaction with PSE has been observed to date.


    FOOTNOTES
 
1 Manuscript received 29 July 1999. Back

2 Abbreviations used: apo, apoprotein; CHD, coronary heart disease; HDL-C, HDL cholesterol; IDL-C, intermediate density lipoprotein cholesterol; NCEP, National Cholesterol Education Program; PSE, plant stanol esters; TC, total cholesterol; VLDL-C, VLDL cholesterol. Back


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 Hypocholesterolemic Effect of...
 Side Effects of Plant...
 REFERENCES
 

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Nonesterified Phytosterols Dissolved and Recrystallized in Oil Reduce Plasma Cholesterol in Gerbils and Humans
J. Nutr., June 1, 2004; 134(6): 1395 - 1399.
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J. W. Anderson
Diet First, Then Medication for Hypercholesterolemia
JAMA, July 23, 2003; 290(4): 531 - 533.
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Am. J. Clin. Nutr.Home page
O. A Matvienko, D. S Lewis, M. Swanson, B. Arndt, D. L Rainwater, J. Stewart, and D L. Alekel
A single daily dose of soybean phytosterols in ground beef decreases serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in young, mildly hypercholesterolemic men
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition, July 1, 2002; 76(1): 57 - 64.
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H. S. Ewart, L. K. Cole, J. Kralovec, H. Layton, J. M. Curtis, J. L. C. Wright, and M. G. Murphy
Fish Oil Containing Phytosterol Esters Alters Blood Lipid Profiles and Left Ventricle Generation of Thromboxane A2 in Adult Guinea Pigs
J. Nutr., June 1, 2002; 132(6): 1149 - 1152.
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T. Vaskonen, E. Mervaala, L. Krogerus, and H. Karppanen
Supplementation of Plant Sterols and Minerals Benefits Obese Zucker Rats Fed an Atherogenic Diet
J. Nutr., February 1, 2002; 132(2): 231 - 237.
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D. Q-H. Wang, B. Paigen, and M. C. Carey
Genetic factors at the enterocyte level account for variations in intestinal cholesterol absorption efficiency among inbred strains of mice
J. Lipid Res., November 1, 2001; 42(11): 1820 - 1830.
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J. Am. Coll. Nutr.Home page
R. J. Nicolosi, T. A. Wilson, C. Lawton, and G. J. Handelman
Dietary Effects on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: Beyond Saturated Fatty Acids and Cholesterol
J. Am. Coll. Nutr., October 1, 2001; 20(90005): 421S - 427.
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A. Tammi, T. Ronnemaa, L. Valsta, R. Seppanen, L. Rask-Nissila, T. A. Miettinen, H. Gylling, J. Viikari, M. Anttolainen, and O. Simell
Dietary Plant Sterols Alter the Serum Plant Sterol Concentration but Not the Cholesterol Precursor Sterol Concentrations in Young Children (The STRIP Study)
J. Nutr., July 1, 2001; 131(7): 1942 - 1945.
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A. B. Awad and C. S. Fink
Phytosterols as Anticancer Dietary Components: Evidence and Mechanism of Action
J. Nutr., September 1, 2000; 130(9): 2127 - 2130.
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