Every year, 2.6 million people die from hyperlipidemia in the world. Governments worldwide attach great importance and support to the research and development of blood lipid-lowering drugs and functional blood lipid-lowering additives. To develop phytosterols with pronounced hypolipidemic effect extracted from natural plants, with short technological process and reliable safety. This aroused strong interest among scholars concerned with cholesterol lowering and was widely developed and brought to market in the 1990s.
The health notice issued by the US FDA states that phytosterol and esters can help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering blood cholesterol levels. The U.S. phytosterol market is now reported to be worth $34 million a year.
In 1999, phytosterols began to enter the US market. The FDA allows the addition of 20% saturated phytosterol esters to food coatings. US Lipton Company and its parent company Unilever have also begun to launch Takecontrol, whose main ingredient is sterol esters derived from vegetable oils. Takecontrol is not hydrogenated, processing is relatively simple and relatively inexpensive.
The Coca-Cola Beverage Company of the United States began to market and sell 100% citrus juice products with phytosterols added in December 2003. American ADM Company develops and produces standard phytosterols with soybean oil-derived phytosterols for special protection food.
During the Shanghai International Food Additives Exhibition in March 2006, the Health Food Department of Cargill Corporation of the United States launched Coro-Wise phytosterols and phytosterol esters extracted from natural products. This shows that it can be added to beverages, juices, yogurt and other foods. It is allowed on food packaging to use the FDA-regulated claim to "help reduce the risk of coronary heart disease."
The British TESCO Group launched a cholesterol-lowering dairy product in the UK market in February 2006, which contains phytosterols and phytostanol esters extracted from pine trees.
At present, Raisio Group Life Science Company has branches in more than 10 countries including the United States, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. In addition to R&D and sales, it also imports crystalline phytosterols from other countries, including phytosterols imported from China as starting materials.
Recent studies have found that some phytosterols have antioxidant functions and synergistic effects when combined with other natural antioxidants, which are worthy of attention and research topics.