I’d like to update you all on some new features on the website. More content and information has been added to the Sitosterolemia page, including an FAQ about the condition and a Resources page with links to articles and videos to learn more. There is also a page where you can find dietary information related to phytosterols, cholesterol, and different types of food.
You can also find more information on the Sitosterolemia Foundation, which is a non-profit patient advocacy organization and featured in the Resources page. Its current missions are growing the institutional awareness of sitosterolemia with medical research groups and expanding research for treatments of the condition. I’ll update you on the foundations newest work and ways in the future you can help its cause. For now, stay tuned.
I’m also adding a page where I’ll update you on my eventual quest to get the FDA to require nutritional labels on food to list the phytosterol content, like they do for cholesterol content. The simple rationale is that the phyotsterol market is set to boom, as food manufacturers are looking for more ways to include plant sterols and stanols in higher quantities in foods we already eat. Cardiovascular disease is still a number one threat to human life globally, and so it is thought that finding more ways to lower cholesterol, especially without forcing the change of modern habits, will benefit humanity as a whole.
However, such a swing toward phytosterol gluttony in the food industry spells consternation for sitosterolemia patients. One of the biggest battles we face in our search to improve our health is to find clear confirmation that the food we eat actually contains little to no phytosterols. The FDA has already approved that food manufactures can label their foods as “heart healthy” if they contain a certain amount of phytosterols. Why not be complete with the labeling? The very least The FDA can do is require these manufactures also to include the phytosterol content on the Nutrition Facts label, the same way they require for cholesterol.
That way, those seeking to consume more phytosterols to lower their choleserol can find the select foods they want for that purpose, and those wishing to avoid phytosterols know exactly what they’re getting from every food item at the grocery store. Let’s not let the above image on the back of every food item be the source of mystery, especially when the front can clearly advertise such beneficent claims.