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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Sterol stability in functional fruit beverages enriched with different plant sterol sources

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Abstract Two different plant sterol (PS) sources (free PS from tall oil and esterified PS from vegetable oils) were used for manufacturing two types of functional beverages (fruit and milk-based fruit beverages), and their PS and phytosterol oxidation product (POP) contents were determined. Gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (GC–MS/MS) was used for identification and gas chromatography–flame ionization detection (GC–FID) for quantitation purposes. Brassicasterol, campesterol, campestanol, stigmasterol, β-sitosterol and sitostanol were the quantified PS, conforming a profile in order with current legislation. The relative percentages of PS differed according to the enrichment source involved, though the enrichment levels (g/100 g beverage) were of the same order (1.77 from tall oil and 1.84 from vegetable oils). Only POPs from β-sitosterol (the prevalent PS in the analyzed beverages) were detected — the predominant representative being 7β-hydroxysitosterol (39–58.5% of total POP content). The following POPs were quantified: 7α-hydroxy, β-epoxy, α-epoxy, and 7-ketositosterol, yielding a total POP content ranging between 42.9 and 57.4 mg/100 g of PS. No statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) in total and individual POP content according to the source of PS were found. The mean β-sitosterol oxidation percentage was