Magnitude of the Hypocholesterolemic Effect of Dietary Sitosterol in Man

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Abstract
Ninety-two university students (73 men and 19 women) consumed for 7 days a homogenized formula ration providing 45% of calories as butter fat. The subjects were then divided into 10 groups and continued for 8 days on the same regimen supplemented by a commercial preparation of β-sitosterol in amounts of 50, 100, 200, 300, 400, 600, 800, 1600, 3200, and 6400 mg/950 kcal. Eighty-five subjects (69 men and 16 women) completed the experiment. Starting with the 300-mg level, the β-sitosterol increments caused progressively larger decreases in plasma cholesterol concentrations which were significant in all instances. The implications of these results are discussed in the light of the large amounts of plant sterols present in corn oil and it is concluded that these compounds are important factors in accounting in large part for its hypochloesterolemic property.
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