Visit the Microscopic Colitis Foundation Website
Phytosterols are supposed to provide a healthy "natural" way to reduce cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, research has turned up a very negative aspect of this type of supplement - direct damage to the heart muscle, (at least this is what happens to rats whose diet contains these supplements).
Issues such as this are exactly the reason why I am opposed to the use of "functional foods", (otherwise benign foods, or even junk foods, which are "spiked" to provide some special health enhancement). IMO, in general, it's probably always best to steer clear of foods which are designed to provide micromanagement of nutrients. We should get our nutrients from whole foods, not from nutrient supplements, or from junk foods that are claimed to have special health benefits, because of some "magic" ingredients that have been added. Whole foods often contain offsetting ingredients which counteract the ill effects of such ingredients which, when isolated, and ingested by themselves, may be hazardous to our health.
From a recent blog by Dr. Briffa:
The red emphasis is mine, of course.I was interested to read about a recent study in which the effect of sterols on rat heart cells was assessed [1]. The cells were exposed to levels of sterols commonly found in the bodies of individuals ingesting sterols. The cells ended up incorporating the sterols at the expense of cholesterol. However, at the same time, the metabolic activity of the heart cells decreased, as did their capacity for growth. In short, exposing heart cells to sterols appears to, err, poison them.
The authors point out, that the results of this study cannot necessarily be translated into conclusions about the effect of these compounds on heart health, but add that the findings “raise[s] concerns about the safety of long-term exposure to physiologically relevant PS [phytosterol] concentrations.”
http://www.drbriffa.com/2011/04/25/heal ... art-cells/
Here's an abstract of the original research article:
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/di ... id=8259387
It's probably too soon to panic, but I thought that we should all be aware of this, since it does us no good to try to improve our health, if we are unknowingly destroying something as vital as our heart, in the process.
Tex
All I know is that my total cholesterol has always been near the upper end of the "normal" range, my HDL has always been at the lower end of the "normal" range, and my LDL has always been at the upper end of the "normal range". 
So far, my CRP is fine, but it was never checked until several months after the removal of a section of my terminal ileum, and since the terminal ileum is where cholesterol is recycled, my total cholesterol level began to decline, a few months after my surgery. My homocysteine level has never been checked, that I'm aware of.
My triglyceride level has always been pretty decent, except for when I was having a TIA. To be honest, I've never been concerned about my cholesterol level, but the drug companies have certainly convinced most doctors to be concerned about it.