Abstract:

As phytosterols were found to have a cholesterol-lowering effect, more and more attention has been paid to the development of phytosterols-rich foods by adding phytosterol ingredients to food matrices in order to increase the variety of functional foods. The current situation of research on the biological effects of phytosterols, the formation mechanisms, characteristics and determination methods of their oxidation products and the development of functional phytosterols-rich foods is review in the paper. In addition, many suggestions concerning the development and research of functional phytosterols-rich foods in our country are propose considering that the habitual use way of oil for Chinese style food manufacturing is mainly high temperature frying.

Key words: plant phytosterol, functional food, oxidative stability