A family of sterols commonly found in plants and plant oils. Alpha-, beta-, and gamma-isomers have been characterized.

A class of organic compounds known as STEROLS or STEROIDS derived from plants.

A butterlike product made of refined vegetable oils, sometimes blended with animal fats, and emulsified usually with water or milk. It is used as a butter substitute. (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

The fatty portion of milk, separated as a soft yellowish solid when milk or cream is churned. It is processed for cooking and table use. (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed)

A slightly acid milk food produced by fermentation due to the combined action of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Streptococcus thermophilus.

Use of plants or herbs to treat diseases or to alleviate pain.

Five-ring derivatives of dammarane having a chair-chair-chair-boat configuration. They include the lupanes, oleananes, amyrins, GLYCYRRHIZIC ACID, and soyasaponins.

Cholesterol which is contained in or bound to low density lipoproteins (LDL), including CHOLESTEROL ESTERS and free cholesterol.

A condition with abnormally high levels of CHOLESTEROL in the blood. It is defined as a cholesterol value exceeding the 95th percentile for the population.

"Esters are organic compounds that result from the reaction between an alcohol and a carboxylic acid, playing significant roles in various biological processes and often used in pharmaceutical synthesis."

Substances used to lower plasma CHOLESTEROL levels.

The principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils.

Steroids with a hydroxyl group at C-3 and most of the skeleton of cholestane. Additional carbon atoms may be present in the side chain. (IUPAC Steroid Nomenclature, 1987)

Studies comparing two or more treatments or interventions in which the subjects or patients, upon completion of the course of one treatment, are switched to another. In the case of two treatments, A and B, half the subjects are randomly allocated to receive these in the order A, B and half to receive them in the order B, A. A criticism of this design is that effects of the first treatment may carry over into the period when the second is given. (Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 2d ed)

A generic term for fats and lipoids, the alcohol-ether-soluble constituents of protoplasm, which are insoluble in water. They comprise the fats, fatty oils, essential oils, waxes, phospholipids, glycolipids, sulfolipids, aminolipids, chromolipids (lipochromes), and fatty acids. (Grant & Hackh's Chemical Dictionary, 5th ed)

Uptake of substances through the lining of the INTESTINES.

A broad category of receptor-like proteins that may play a role in transcriptional-regulation in the CELL NUCLEUS. Many of these proteins are similar in structure to known NUCLEAR RECEPTORS but appear to lack a functional ligand-binding domain, while in other cases the specific ligands have yet to be identified.

Lipid-protein complexes involved in the transportation and metabolism of lipids in the body. They are spherical particles consisting of a hydrophobic core of TRIGLYCERIDES and CHOLESTEROL ESTERS surrounded by a layer of hydrophilic free CHOLESTEROL; PHOSPHOLIPIDS; and APOLIPOPROTEINS. Lipoproteins are classified by their varying buoyant density and sizes.

Regular course of eating and drinking adopted by a person or animal.

Concentrated pharmaceutical preparations of plants obtained by removing active constituents with a suitable solvent, which is evaporated away, and adjusting the residue to a prescribed standard.

Cholesterol which is contained in or bound to high-density lipoproteins (HDL), including CHOLESTEROL ESTERS and free cholesterol.

Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in the body, stored in fat cells and used as energy; they are measured in blood tests to assess heart disease risk, with high levels often resulting from dietary habits, obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, and alcohol consumption.