preferably , the amount of ( plant ) sterols and carotenoids in the composition is such that levels of carotenoids in the body are increased and the level of ( serum ) blood cholesterol , and ldl - cholesterol in particular , are decreased , when such composition is ingested regularly , for a period of at least 14 days . as various vegetables and fruits like tomatoes are suitable sources of carotenoid - containing chromo - and / or chloroplasts , these are preferred sources for the carotenoids . following this , a composition according to the invention may be a food composition comprising tomatoes , such as e . g . an italian - style sauce to go with pasta , with added to the sauce ( phyto ) sterols or derivatives thereof in such an amount that per serving at least 0 . 5 ( g ), preferably at least 1 . 5 ( g ) of ( phyto ) sterol or derivative thereof is ingested . such a sauce may be anything from a very smooth , more or less homogeneous mixture , to a thick sauce containing chunks of tomato or other fruit or vegetable , depending on desired end result and processing . even more preferred in the above are levels of at least 2 or even 3 ( g ) ( phyto ) sterol or derivative thereof ( per serving ). the size and weight of a serving will depend on the type of the food product , but will be about the size / weight of that food product as is usually consumed by the average adult person . for italian - type tomato sauces for pasta dishes such a serving may be about 150 - 100 gram . also depending on processing , at least part of the carotenoid - containing chromoplasts and / or chloroplasts is presumably present as a part of plant cells . also suitable to provide at least part of the composition according to the invention are ( besides various colored tomatoes ): sweet peppers ( red , yellow or orange ), red ( hot ) peppers , water mellon , carrots , pink grapefruit , or other fruit or vegetable containing carotenoids . the compositions according to the invention may comprise from 10 - 99 % by weight of these fruit or vegetables . also , extracts of these fruit and vegetables may be used to provide such carotenoids . in that case , the compositions according to the invention may comprise less than 10 % wt of the fruit and vegetables . furthermore it is possible to use synthetic sources of carotenoids . in processing the fruit or vegetables to make them suitable for incorporation in the compositions according to the invention a temperature treatment may be applied ( besides other processing steps ). the carotenoid sources may be heat - treated in order to achieve a partial disruption of the chromo - and chloroplast structures while at the same time recognizable tissue structures are still present . the fruit or vegetables mentioned may be subjected to pretreatment like washing , cutting , heating , cooking , etcetera , but not extensive homogenization , as this may destroy the chromo - and chloroplasts too much . an advantage of the above is that the carotenoids that are ingested are carotenoids of natural sources which are abundantly available , such as in tomatoes . also , the compositions according to the invention may be made in the form of e . g . standard tomato sauces for e . g . italian - style pasta dishes , which have a universal , natural and healthy appeal . the compositions according to the invention may also be in the form of ( part of ) a ( hot or cold ) paste , puree , ketchup ( catsup ), soup , juice , sauce or similar product . additionally , the compositions according to the invention are preferably low in fat . ( fat is herein to be understood as to comprise all fatty acid triglycerides such as vegetable oils .) preferably , the composition should contain less than 10 % of fat . the compositions according to the invention can suitably be used as part of the main ( hot ) meal . by main meal is meant the meal of the day that provides the largest amount of calories per day , and usually includes hot food , and is taken at the end of the day or during lunchtime . the invention further relates to a process for preparing the compositions as described above . this can be a process for the preparation of a food product which process comprises ( not necessarily in the order given ) at least the steps of : mixing the carotenoid - containing fruit or vegetables with a ( plant ) sterol or derivative thereof . preferably in the above process , said carotenoid - containing fruit - or vegetables comprise tomato , capsicum ( red , yellow or orange ), red peppers , water mellon , carrots , pink grapefruit or mixtures thereof . preferably , the fruit or vegetables to make up the composition according to the invention are chosen such that the weight ratio of ( plant ) sterols or derivatives thereof : carotenoids in the final composition is between 100 : 1 and 10000 : 1 . ( more preferably between 250 : 1 and 4000 : 1 ). in the present invention , ( phyto ) sterols are herein to be understood to comprise also derivatives of these compounds , such as esters . preferred in this respect are β - sitostanol , β - sitosterol , and esters thereof with e . g . fatty acids ( to yield e . g . β - sitosteryl linoleate ). description of fig1 : bioavailability of β - carotene and lycopene in the presence of plantsterols . a post - prandial study was undertaken , in which 20 healthy , adult , human volunteers , 10 male , 10 female ( age 30 - 65 ) were provided with an early - morning tomato - based meal , after which at regular intervals and for a period of 8 hours blood samples were taken . in the triglyceride - rich fractions ( mainly consisting of chylomicrons that carry the digested fat and fat - soluble components from the intestine to the liver ) of those blood samples the levels of lycopene , beta - carotene and also vitamin a were determined ( using straight - phase hplc analysis using a nucleosil cyanyl - bonded column ). the levels of vitamin a ( measured as retinyl palmitate ) and beta - carotene can be taken together as a measure for beta - carotene uptake , as during absorption ( or shortly thereafter ) beta - carotene is partly converted into vitamin a . the integrated post - prandial response can then be used to estimate the bioavailability of beta - carotene and lycopene from a meal . the meal consisted of 200 g of cooked macaroni , 130 g of chunky tomato sauce ( containing more chunks of tomato flesh than most commercial tomato sauces ) made of yellow , orange and super red varieties , 80 g of lean cooked ham ( gammon ), 20 g of white bread , and 11 . 6 g of sunflower oil ( stripped , i . e . low in antoixidants ) and 2 . 2 g of plansterols . the chosen level of plansterols of 2 . 2 g has been shown in the past to be effective , when consumed daily , in lowering the level of cholesterol in blood . the plant sterols used have been esterified with fatty acids from sunflower oil . the plantsterol : fatty acid proportion is 3 : 2 . the following plant sterols are present in the formula : sitosterol ( 45 - 50 %), campesterol ( 20 - 30 %), stigmasterol ( 15 - 25 %), and brassicasterol (& lt ; 5 %). the tomato sauce contained 5 . 2 mg of lycopene , a usual level , and 2 . 2 mg of beta - carotene , an unusually high level . the latter was achieved as a result of the presence of a beta - carotene - rich orange tomato variety in the tomato sauce chosen . the day preceding the test day the test subjects were asked not to consume foods rich in carotenoids and vitamin a ( no vegetables or fruit rich in carotenoids , tomato products , liver products ). a deep frozen main meal , low in carotenoids and vitamin a was provided . on the test day , the meal as above described was consumed between 7 . 15 - 8 . 00 hours . a lunch low in carotenoids , vitamin a , and fat was provided 4 . 5 hours after the test meal . as shown in fig1 the chunky pasta - sauce based meal with the chosen carotenoid / plant - sterol ratio resulted in a clear post - prandial response of beta - carotene and lycopene . in this graph , the level of carotenoids as measured just before the meal , was taken as zero . this example indicates that this meal , in the presence of 2 . 2 g of plansterols , can contribute positively to the carotenoid status in the blood ( at least for lycopene and beta - carotene ).
the invention relates to an edible compositon containing both sterols as well as carotenoids . preferably the carotenoids are present in another phase than the sterols .