Jul 18, 2025 · What are sterols and stanols, and how can they lower your cholesterol? Find out what foods they’re in and who can benefit most from more of them in their diet.

While technically alcohols, sterols are classified by biochemists as lipids (fats in the broader sense of the term). Some sources make a distinction between sterols and stanols.

When your body digests plant sterols instead of cholesterol, it removes some of the cholesterol as waste. This results in lower cholesterol levels and improved health.

Sterols are a class of lipids that play an important role in the structure and function of cells in living organisms. They are a type of steroid with a specific chemical structure characterized by a hydroxyl …

Plant sterols are found in plants like vegetables, fruits, wheat germ, whole grains, beans, sunflower seeds, and many vegetable oils. These plant foods do not have enough plant sterols to markedly …

Jun 5, 2025 · Sterols and stanols are in a group of plant compounds known as phytosterols. Naturally produced by plants, phytosterols are chemically similar to the cholesterol our bodies produce. There …

Jun 19, 2025 · Clinical trials show that taking 1.5–3 g of plant sterols or stanols each day can cut LDL (“bad”) cholesterol by 6–15 % within 3–4 weeks. Benefits plateau above 3 g and work best when …

Sterols are minor components of human dietary lipids, comprising the major portion of the unsaponifiable fraction of most edible fats and oils and can be classified according to their origin as …

What are sterols? Sterols are organic compounds derived from gonane with H #3 replaced with an alcohol (OH) group. The sterols are a sub-class of steroids. The simplest sterol is the alcohol gonane …

Stanols and sterols help to reduce the amount of cholesterol that is absorbed in the intestine. This can lead to lower LDL cholesterol in the blood. They do not affect triglyceride or HDL cholesterol. In most …