Add cholesterol-lowering properties to olive oil.

Plant sterols are compounds structurally similar to cholesterol. The plant sterols occurring most frequently in nature are sitosterol, campesterol and stigmasterol. Vegetable oils and fats are the main sources of plant sterols. Saturated plant sterols are present in our diet, but only in small amounts.

In recent years, much interest has focused on the cholesterol-lowering properties of plant stanols and sterols. Many stanol- or sterol-enriched products, such as margarines, salad dressings, bars and yogurts, are commercially available. A daily intake of 2 g to 3 g of stanols or sterols significantly reduces our serum LDL cholesterol levels.

It's possible to enrich staple foods with stanols or sterols in their fatty acid ester forms without compromising taste or mouthfeel. In northern Europe, margarine and spreads are very suitable products for such enrichment. In southern Europe, olive oil is a staple food of major importance. Moreover, olive oil consumption is also increasing in other parts of the world due to its healthful properties and flavor.

Olive oil naturally contains very low levels of plant sterols, typically less than 0.2 g per 100 g of oil. Higher-grade olive oils, such as virgin olive oils, contain quite high amounts of squalene, a precursor of cholesterol. Dietary squalene has been shown to increase our serum cholesterol levels. This can be counteracted by consuming plant stanols or sterols. There is clearly a need to make commercially available higher-grade olive oils enriched with plant stanols or sterols, and to ensure that such olive oils have similar properties as normally used olive oils.

To address this issue, scientists at Raisio Benecol have developed and patented an olive oil-based product comprising virgin olive oil and a blend of sterol fatty acid esters or stanol fatty acid esters. The physical properties of stanol or sterol fatty acid esters can be tailor-made by changing the fatty acid composition of the fatty acid ester or by using different ratios of plant stanols and sterols in the ester.

Researchers overcame problems with the precipitation or crystallization of higher melting lipids in higher grade olive oils by dissolving plant stanol or sterol fatty acid esters with fatty acids derived from high-PUFA vegetable oils. Then they crystallized any higher melting lipids from the olive oil at refrigerator or room temperatures to obtain a plant stanol or sterol fatty acid ester blend that had a very low content of saturated fatty acid esters contained in the olive oil.

The crystallization temperature and time needed depended on the amount and type of stanol or sterol fatty acid ester used. By choosing the crystallization temperature and time properly, virgin olive oils either stayed clear at refrigerator temperatures or became clear when the oil was removed from refrigeration and kept at room temperatures for a short period of time.

Patent. 6,827,964--Edible fat blends. Issued: Dec. 7, 2004. Inventors: Ingmar Wester and Juha Orte. This patent covers olive oil-based products, based on virgin olive oils, that contain plant stanol or sterol fatty acid ester blends. Also covered are techniques for preparing olive oil-based products. Assigned to Raisio Benecol Ltd., Raisio, Finland.

Further information. Ingmar Wester, Raisio Benecol Ltd., P.O. Box 101, FIN-21201 Raisio, Finland; phone: [phone]; fax: [phone]; URL: www.raisiogroup.com.