UK: The Flora “Family” and Heart Health

Unilever, the makers of Flora, has a long history in 'heart health' spreads and margarines, and is the world's leading producer.From the late 1950's onwards, the link between saturated fat in the diet and its relationship with blood cholesterol levels became increasingly established amongst the scientific community 1,2.At the request of the medical profession, Unilever was asked to develop a healthy alternative to butter, lard and hard margarine. The response was a spread that was high in polyunsaturated fatty acids and low in saturated fatty acids. The spread, known as Becel (so called for its blood cholesterol lowering properties) was launched in the Netherlands and was available on prescription from pharmacies. In the early 1960s Becel's formulation was changed to one based on sunflower oil. The product was launched in the UK, under the brand name Flora, and because of its health benefits, became the UK's most popular spread in the space of a few years, a position it has maintained ever since.Now available, Flora pro.activ is a cholesterol lowering spread enriched with plant sterols that reduces LDL (bad) cholesterol by an average of 10-15% within 3 weeks, when eaten as part of a healthy diet.