An example that we can look at is Benecol. The company behind Benecol clearly state this on their site but that is the kind of stuff we often ignore and chalk up to the company trying to make us consume more of their products ('rinse and repeat' anyone?).. I'm sure you've seen this 'now contains [insert hot nutrient of the week]' phenomenon is running rampant in our supermarkets and the end result could be you just paying more but not getting any added benefit. This means that you need to take 2 3 TBSP per day to reap the benefit of this product.

You need at least 2 grams/ day of stanols to get a cholesterol lower effect. Benecol is a butter substitute/margarine product that contains plant stanol esters. 1 TBSP of Benecol contains 0.85 grams of stanols. Functional foods area very popular topic and more and more food companies are stuffing their foods with full of exotic ingredients in order to entice consumers to buy them.

Plant stanols/sterols have been shown in several different clinical trials to reduce your cholesterol levels.