Ingredients
Guar Gum (also called guaran) is extracted from the seed of the leguminous shrub Cyamopsis tetragonoloba, where it acts as a food and water store.
Guar Gum is a viscous, soluble fiber, which forms a gel in the digestive tract and has been shown to aid in cholesterol reduction and stabilization of blood sugar levels. When the bile salts and bile acids try to breakdown the gel fiber matrix, they get trapped inside it and are evacuated from the body along with the fiber. This process is known as “bile acid sequestrations.” Since the bile products are not reabsorbed into the bloodstream, the liver must break down circulating cholesterol to create new stores of bile acids and bile salts. This lowers serum cholesterol over time.
Source: London South Bank University
Plant Sterols (also called Phytosterols) are widely found in the plant kingdom and are chemically similar to cholesterol.
Phytosterols appear to inhibit the absorption of dietary cholesterol and the reabsorption (via the enterohepatic circulation) of endogenous cholesterol from the gastrointestinal tract. Consequently, the excretion of cholesterol in the feces leads to decreased serum levels of this sterol. Phytosterols do not appear to affect the absorption of bile acids. It is believed that phytosterols displace cholesterol from bile salt micelles. Another proposed mechanism is the possible inhibition of the rate of cholesterol esterification in the intestinal mucosa.
Source: 2004 Physician’s Desk Reference
In the intestinal lumen, cholesterol is found in solution with other fats. However, as monoglycerides and fatty acids are absorbed from the gut, concentration of the less well absorbed substances, e.g. sterols increases. When their concentration reaches a critical level, similar substances can precipitate from the solution. This may happen with cholesterol and plant sterols/stanols, because of their similarity in structure. Both cholesterol and plant sterols/stanols in the free state are poorly soluble in fat and micelles and in fact mutually limit each others solubility. Hence the greater the amount of plant sterols/stanols, the lower the solubility and perhaps the greater the amount of cholesterol precipitated. Cholesterol in the crystalline form cannot be absorbed.
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