The effect of plant sterols on the initial application of cholesterol-lowering is abundant in the literature and production practice. I won't go into details here. This article will give you some additional power to guide product development.
1. growth-promoting effect
The effect of phytosterols on promoting animal growth has been reported as early as more than 10 years ago. There are at least the following three ways or mechanisms to elucidate the growth-promoting effect of plant sterols. The first way is that in the state of water solute, phytosterol, growth hormone, phytosterol, and ribosome form a complex. The structure of this complex is relatively stable compared with the growth hormone that exists alone, thereby prolonging the growth hormone. Half-life plays a role in stabilizing the structure of growth hormone, prolonging the time of growth hormone action, thereby promoting animal growth. The second pathway is that phytosterols are precursors of steroid hormones, which have hormone-like functions and can bind to target cell receptors, stimulate DNA transcription, generate new mRNA, and induce protein synthesis.
The third pathway is that phytosterols stimulate the production of insulin-like growth factors in the liver, the hormone growth axis, and promote protein synthesis.
2. antioxidant effect
The unique ethylene group of phytosterols has a special antioxidant physiological function, which can quickly form a free radical at the 29-allyl group, and this free radical is isomerized into a tertiary free radical, which is stronger than fatty acid. Free radicals at the carbon center are more stable, thereby blocking the oxidation reaction of fatty acids. Combining the literature and the author's years of experience, phytosterols have at least three pathways to exert their antioxidant function. The first pathway is to directly reduce the production of ROS. The second way is to scavenge free radicals directly. The third way is to increase the activity of enzymes such as SOD to slow down or eliminate the damage of oxidative stress to tissue cells.
At present, the main way to obtain phytosterol is to extract from soybean oil and rice bran oil. HSF is the leading manufacturer of plant sterols. We go through multiple extraction steps and use a large amount of organic solvents to provide you with high-quality products under the premise of ensuring environmental protection requirements.