Stigmasterol is a chemical compound found in many vegetable fats. In addition to being found in plants, it is present in many animals that absorb it through their diets and in animal products such as milk. For plants, stigmasterol plays a regulatory role. Humans use stigmasterol in a number of chemical processes that are designed to produce synthetic products for the pharmaceutical industry.
Calabar beans, rapeseeds, soybeans, cocoa beans, and nuts and seeds in general have a high concentration of stigmasterol. This compound can also be found in many other plants. It is part of a group of chemicals known as phytosterols. These steroidal alcohols are generally insoluble in water and are chemically similar to cholesterol, a compound found in animals.
Collected from plants, stigmasterol can be used to make synthetic progesterone for medical use. Progesterone can also be used as a precursor to a variety of estrogens, androgens, and corticosteroids, making it useful in the manufacture of drugs that use hormones in these groups. Plant sterols are used in the production of a number of hormones intended for use in humans and other animals.
Plant sterols are promoted in some regions as nutritionally useful foods that are supposed to prevent cancer and provide other health benefits. The benefits of sterols are not well understood; People who eat a higher concentration of plants in their diets tend to be healthier, but this could be caused by a number of factors beyond plant sterols. For example, people may benefit from increased fiber, or any number of other compounds present in the plants they eat. Improved health may also be the result of interactions between compounds found in plants, further complicating matters.
Stigmasterol appears to play a role in reducing inflammation, which may be because it is a precursor to chemicals that can limit inflammatory processes. Sterols such as stigmasterol have also been advocated for their ability to lower cholesterol, although more study is needed to determine which compounds perform this function and how they work in the body.
In pure form, stigmasterol is a white powder that is sold in a variety of amounts by companies that process and refine it from plants. Laboratories working with stigmasterol and other plant sterols can use a variety of techniques to manipulate them with the goal of creating new compounds from the sterols. These compounds include experimental products that laboratories develop to find new uses for old base ingredients.