Opta Food Ingredients gained US patent 6190720 for their “Dispersible sterol compositions,” a hypocholesterolemic (cholesterol lowering) ingredient.

Competitors in the field include: Raision Tehtaat, Henkel, Kawes, Washington University,  Riken Vitamin, Lipton division of Conopco, McNeil-PPC and Monsanto.


Abstract:



    The present invention pertains to a food ingredient comprising one or more sterols, one or more fats and one or more emulsifiers, as well as to methods of making the food ingredient and food compositions comprising the food ingredient The food ingredient can be used as a cholesterol-lowering agent.


First of 4 Claims:



  1. A method of preparing a food ingredient comprising the steps of:
    a) heating one or more sterols to their melting point;
    b) combining the product of step (a) with one or more fats and one or more emulsifiers to produce a homogeneous mixture; and
    c) cooling the homogeneous mixture under agitation, thereby producing a food ingredient.
By Navroz Havewala, just-food.com correspondent