Oxysterols - how much do we know about food occurrence, dietary intake and absorption?

Oxysterols are formed in foods during processing and storage, having an impact on the nutritional profile besides being associated to the development of diverse chronic and degenerative diseases. This review provides an overview on recent information and knowledge gaps on oxysterol formation and absorption from foods. Their contents should be monitored based on dietary habits, in order to have more realistic data available and to expand the currently limited daily intake data. Unraveling the mechanism of oxysterol absorption, together with a more thorough understanding of their metabolism, is needed; in this respect, bioavailability studies using in vitro and in vivo methodologies could contribute with new insights. Finally, the food-health axis can be boosted by suitable technological solutions and antioxidants to help preventing also in vivo oxidation.