Phytosterols and their esters are secondary plant metabolites possessing several health-benefits, e.g. cholesterol-lowering and anti-oxidative properties. Due to their ability to lower the serum total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, phytosteryl fatty acid esters are currently added to a broad spectrum of foods, such as margarine, milk or drinking-yogurt, for the prevention and control of hypercholesterolemia in humans. Among natural foods, cereals, nuts and edible plant oils are particularly rich sources of these compounds.  Therefore, analytical methods are needed allowing both the authentication of foods enriched with phytosteryl esters as well as the determination of naturally occurring free phytosterols and their individual intact esters.The presentation describes three approaches for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of free phytosterols and their intact esters in various matrices. GC-based analysis was shown to be suitable to determine the contents of phytosteryl fatty acid esters in enriched foods. The combination of GC-based analysis and fractionation by means of solid-phase extraction enabled the analysis of free phytosterols, their fatty acid esters and their phenolic acid esters in cereals. On-line LC-GC allowed the rapid and the simultaneous analysis of free phytosterols and phytosteryl fatty acid esters in edible plant oils and tree nuts.

GC and on-line LC-GC: Useful tools for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of phytosterols and their esters

246th National Meeting (2013)

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