According to the American Heart Association, an estimated 106.7 million Americans have higher than recommended levels of cholesterol in their bloodstreams. As cholesterol increases above 200 mg/dL in the bloodstream, your risks of developing arterial plaque increases. This also increases your chances of being diagnosed with cardiovascular health problems, such as heart disease. One way to help lower your cholesterol levels is the use of plant stanols.
What are Plant Stanols?
Plant stanols are increasing in popularity as a food additive. Plant stanols appear in small quantities in most plant-based products, such as vegetables, grains and nuts. After realizing the benefits of plant stanols on cholesterol levels, food companies started extracting plant stanols from plants-based foods, and inserting them into other food products as an additive.
How They Work
Plant stanols are very similar in size and structure to cholesterol. As such, they can often get in the way and interfere with the absorption of cholesterol into the bloodstream. Without being able to enter the bloodstream through the walls of your digestive tract, the consumed cholesterol exits the body in your waste. By lowering the amount of cholesterol being absorbed, the total cholesterol count in your bloodstream decreases. This puts you at less risk for developing arterial blockages from calcified cholesterol plaque.
Foods
Each year more foods are being introduced into the market with added plant stanols. Most commonly you can find them in products such as stanol fortified margarine. Stanols are also being added to food products such as orange juice, cooking oils, milk, granola bars and yogurt. Just look for packaging that states the product has added, or is fortified with plant stanols. Products may also be fortified with sterols, which work in the same manner as plant stanols.
