Additive could lead to cholesterol lowering chips

31/01/05 Tortilla chips might not be health food anytime soon, but science may have found a way to make them lower your cholesterol.

Researchers are frying chips in oil spiked with an ingredient from plants called phytosterol, which can soak up cholesterol without harming the taste.

K.C. Hayes, one of the Brandeis University scientists working on the method, acknowledges fried chips, doughnuts and the like may forever remain the stuff of nutritionists' nightmares.

But he's realistic. Most people are unlikely to give up fried snacks entirely, so why not improve the munchies a tad to partly offset the fat and preservatives?

Consumer reaction has been mixed on the scores of often taste-challenged foods that are lower in fat, carbs or sugar. Food industry analysts believe sterol-enriched snacks may get just as tough a reception from the medical community and from consumers wishing to reduce cholesterol - even if the new treat tastes the same as regular snacks.

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