China estimates that 3 million people die of cardiovascular diseases every year. It is no exaggeration to say that cardiovascular diseases are the "first killer" of national health. Facing the new challenges, more efforts must be made to further control and prevent cardiovascular diseases. Fengyi International R&D Center is the first institution in China to carry out phytosterol research. Two or three years ago, we began to study the technology of restoring phytosterol and made substantial progress. It was included in the key project of Health Jinqiao of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association.
Phytosterols have two main physiological functions: one is to inhibit cholesterol absorption. Phytosterol has a chemical structure similar to cholesterol, which can competitively "occupy" the absorption channel of cholesterol in the intestine, thus inhibiting its absorption by the human body; The second is to promote cholesterol excretion. Phytosterols can competitively inhibit the hydrolysis of intestinal cholesterol esters and promote their excretion from human body.
As early as 1950s, phytosterols were used to treat hypercholesterolemia. From 65438 to 0995, a margarine manufacturer in Finland made a functional food containing sterols and quickly became a leading brand in the market. In recent years, the annual output of refined mixed phytosterols in the world has exceeded 1,000 tons. Phytosterols are widely used in edible oil, health food and other industries abroad. At present, relevant institutions in Finland, the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Britain and other countries have recognized the safety of phytosterols. Current products such as mayonnaise, dessert, yogurt, milk, cooking oil and so on. The addition of phytosterol has appeared, and the food added with phytosterol has formed a healthy epidemic in Europe and America.
Phytosterol is one of the top ten functional nutrients recommended by the International Nutrition Society in the future. The FDA of the United States has also identified phytosterol as a new raw material of natural health food, which can reduce blood fat and prevent arteriosclerosis, and approved the food of phytosterol or phytostanol ester as "beneficial to health". So far, only 12 kinds of food have been approved by FDA.
In the past few years, the research and application technology of phytosterol in China was not mature enough, so phytosterol was not widely used. In recent two years, the extraction technology of phytosterol by some enterprises has been relatively mature, and phytosterol has also been certified as "new resource food" by the Ministry of Health of China. Arowana took the lead in seizing the opportunity, not only introduced 10000ppm phytosterol corn oil to the market, but also brought the concept of world health to China. The brand concept of Arowana corn oil "healthy diet and healthy cardiovascular system" is well recognized by consumers. It has become common sense that "phytosterol lowers cholesterol". "Cholesterol, I'm not afraid!" It also became a popular health term in 2009.