A Comparison of Hypocholesterolemic Activity of β-Sitosterol and β-Sitostanol in Rats

Abstract

The hypocholesterolemic activity of beta-sitosterol and its hydrogenated product, beta-sitostanol (dihydrositosterol or stigmastanol) has been compared in young male rats. When cholesterol was included in the diet, sitostanol consistently exhibited significantly greater hypocholesterolemic activity than sitosterol. There were no apparent differences in the effects of the sterol and the stanol on the concentration of liver cholesterol and triglyceride. Increases in plasma triglyceride due to feeding sitosterol were not observed with sitostanol. Incorporation of dietary sitostanol into plasma, liver and other tissues was always negligible, and thus this stanol was almost completely recovered in feces, while there was considerable deposition of sitosterol (mean fecal recovery being 85% to 92%). The increase in fecal output of dietary cholesterol was significantly greater with the stanol than with sterol. There was no demonstrable negative effect on growth and weight of major visceral tissues in rats fed the sterol as well as the stanol. These observations together with those reported previously indicate that hydorgenation of phytosterols is a novel approach to enhance their hypocholesterolemic activities without influencing the relative safety of the initial sterols.

Cholesterol-lowering properties of plant sterols esterified with beef tallow fatty acids in hamsters

“…Plant sterols also inhibit cholesterol absorption [33][34][35]. Because the extent of PSE hydrolysis in the small intestine remains uncertain [36,37], we included a treatment group in the present study in which hamsters were fed free PS and free SA compared to PSE (study 2).…”

Effects on serum lipids, lipoproteins and fat soluble antioxidant concentrations of consumption frequency of margarines and shortenings enriched with plant stanol esters

“…Thus, when the low absorption of sitostanol into the circulation (Hassan & Rampone, 1979) is neglected, at least 25 ± 30% of the sitostanol is still in the intestinal tract after one day. However, when rats were fed 0.5% cholesterol and 0.5% sitostanol (WaW) for 18 days, the daily fecal excretion of sitostanol showed a recovery of approximately 100% (Sugano et al, 1977). This implies that in rats, at least within 18 days, a steady state was reached and sitostanol intake equaled sitostanol excretion.…”

Effect of germinated and heated soybean meals on plasma cholesterol and triglycerides in rats

“…This is not really unexpected since phytosterols have no hypocholesterolemic effect in rats on a cholesterol-free diet (Sugano et al, 1977 (Jenkins et al, 1983) with a soybean protein concentrate in 10% protein diets in rats, and with a soybean protein isolate in 20% protein diets in rats (Sugano et al, 1982). Tsai et al (1987) (Satouchi and Matsushita, 1976;Gargouri et al, 1984;Wang and Huang, 1984;Lairon et al, 1985;Glenn and Chapman, 1987 …”