ABSTRACT
Analysis of phytosterols in foods is a complex task because these compounds occur both as free alcohols and as various conjugates, and therefore may be easily extractable or tightly bound to the food matrix. Due to the positive health effects associated with consumption of phytosterol-enriched foods, interest in natural phytosterols present in foods has also increased (1-3). Considerable effort has been made to develop reliable, powerful, simple, and economical methods to analyze phytosterols. Traditional methods used hitherto were originally developed for cholesterol analysis and contained several purification and enrichment steps. Improvements in sample preparation and chromatographic techniques have led to significant progress in recent years (e.g., 1, 4-6). In this chapter, analysis methods for studying phytosterol profiles and contents of plant materials and foods will be discussed, as well as various phytosterol classes including free sterols and their conjugates.
