Figure 1 Examples of the chemical structures of phytosterols in current and future functional foods, dietary supplements, and pharmaceuticals.

Phytosterols (plant sterols) are natural components of all plant cells (see Chapter 3). Most natural phytosterols contain one or two carbon-carbon double bonds and are thus considered to be “unsaturated.” Phytostanols are a subset of phytosterols that are completely saturated molecules (they contain no carbon-carbon double bonds). The first

phytosterol product was a cholesterol-lowering pharmaceutical, Cytellin, that was marketed by Eli Lilly from 1957 to 1982 (13). The active ingredient in Cytellin was mainly free β-sitosterol (currently called sitosterol, as per the latest IUPAC rules of nomenclature) with lesser amounts of other phytosterols (Fig. 1A). The first phytosterol functional food was Benecol spread, which was launched in Finland in 1995. The active ingredients in Benecol are phytostanols esterified to natural fatty acids from vegetable oils (Fig. 1D). Since 1995 there has been a remarkable international interest in phytosterols by consumers and food scientists and a rapid development of new phytosterol functional food products. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of these developments.