Association of plasma phytosterol concentrations with incident coronary heart disease: Data from the CORA study, a case–control study of coronary artery disease in women

Abstract Aims Phytosterols have been proposed to be atherogenic. This research investigates whether plasma concentrations of phytosterols correlate with the manifestation of coronary heart disease. Methods and results The CORA study compares clinical, biochemical, and lifestyle factors in consecutive pre- and postmenopausal women with incident coronary heart disease to those in age-matched population-based controls. Controls ( n  = 231) had significantly higher plasma concentrations of the major phytosterol species than cases ( n  = 186) (4.649 mg/l vs. 4.092 mg/l; p Conclusions Healthy controls had higher unadjusted concentrations of plasma phytosterols, but the adjusted odds ratio for coronary heart disease did not point to an impact of plasma phytosterols on coronary heart disease.