Effects of Plant Sterols

People have always been interested in food as anecessity for survival, source of pleasure andcomfort, way of socializing and pleasing theappetite. Recently there has been a growing interest among people in consumption of foods that provideadditional health, medicinal, physiological andnutraceutical benefits beyond their originalnutritive value in an attempt to reduce the risk ofdeveloping chronic diseases. This in turn hasinspired nutritionists in being more activelyinvolved in developing what is now known asfunctional food, achieved by adding nutrients andhealth enhancing food bioactive compounds to thenatural food item. This book, which is the author'sMasters Degree dissertation, investigates thepossibility of incorporating both plant sterols andglucomannan in granola bars and testing their health benefits especially in people with Type 2 diabetes and hyperlipidemia. If proven effective, this combination may contribute to reducing risk of disease and consumption of medication. This book describes in addition to the thorough literature review of plant sterols and glucomannan, the clinical trial conducted to test their effect.