The content of plant sterol (PS) and their oxidation products (POPs) in eight ingredients used to enrich functional foods was studied. A gas chromatographic (GC) technique with mass-spectrometric detection was used for identification, while GC with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) was used for quantification. β-Sitosterol was the most abundant phytosterol, and the main POPs found were derived from this compound (7α/β-hydroxysitosterol, 7-ketositosterol, and sitostanetriol). The total amount of POPs found in the ingredients ranged from 29.03 to 110.02 μg/100 g PS. The β-sitosterol oxidation rates ranged from 10 to 50 μg β-sitosterol oxides/100 g of β-sitosterol. In view of this low rate of oxidation in the ingredients tested, it can be concluded that the PS remain stable in these ingredients. Significant correlations (p < 0.01) were found between total oxysitosterols versus β-sitosterol contents (R(2) = 86.5%) and between total POPs and total PS (R(2) = 81.6%).

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Plant sterols (PS) stability, antioxidant parameters, and color were studied during 6 months of storage at 4, 24, and 37 °C in three PS-enriched functional beverages. Beverages were skimmed milk with fruit juice and PS (MFJPS), fruit juice and PS (FJPS), and skimmed milk with PS (MPS). No loss in total PS content occurred during storage observing the same values at any given storage time point. Total carotenoids decreased 36% with storage at two months and then remained stable. Total polyphenols showed fluctuations throughout the storage, remaining stable at 6 months and reaching initial values. The antioxidant capacity (TEAC method) increased 18% at 6 months, and there was an increase in color over time and temperature, probably due to Maillard reaction compound formation. The increase in total antioxidant capacity might have helped PS maintenance throughout storage, these beverages being a good PS source even after 6 months of storage.

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Table 5: the title must be changed to "mg/100 g ingredient" and footnote a to "mg/100 g plant sterols".Page 3628, second to last paragraph, right column: change first sentence to "POPs contents from the ingredients analyzed are shown in Table 5. The total amount of POPs found ranged from 1.70 to 27.12 mg/100 g of ingredient or from 7.61 to 31.39 mg/ 100 g of PS."Page 3628, last paragraph, right column: change first sentence to "Among the eight ingredients tested, the percentage of oxidized relative to total β-sitosterol was <0.046%."Page 3630, next to last paragraph of text, left column: change third sentence to "In our samples, only ingredient 5 contains esterified PS and constitutes one of the samples with the lowest oxidation rate (10.8 mg POPs/100 g PS)".