STEROLS AWAIT DAY IN THE SUN

Lucia Moses

Go ahead -- slather on the spread. Bring on the salad dressing. Your heart is OK.

That's the message implied by a recent crop of products fortified with substances known as plant sterols or stanol esters. These naturally occurring components of plant cell membranes have cholesterol-lowering potential, and manufacturers are infusing any and all compatible products with them.

Since 2000, when the Food and Drug Administration permitted food makers to claim a link between plant sterols/stanol esters and reduced risk of heart disease, the number of new products making such claims has increased, from four in 2002 to 12 in the first seven months of this year.

Still, despite the increase, such products haven't caught on in the United States as they have in the rest of the world, said Tom Vierhile, executive editor of Productscan Online, published by Datamonitor, Naples, N.Y. Since 1999, 149 sterol- or stanol-enhanced products have been introduced outside the United States vs. 61 in this country, he said.

"They tend to be in conjunction with cholesterol-lowering products, and that's not a very well-developed niche here," he said. "It's been a tough sell."

The fact that sterol-fortified products introduced in the mid-1990s are still around shows the concept has staying power, though, and given Americans' interest in health and wellness, functional food development will continue, said Robert Earl, senior director of nutrition policy for the National Food Processors Association, Washington.

"It's not a trend that has come and gone," he said of sterol-boosted foods.

If anything, they may simply be ahead of their time, Vierhile added.

"Sometimes the population just takes some time to catch up," he said.