Patent ID: 8029845

Claim:
A composition in the form of a solid solution comprising: (a) at least about 0.1% by weight of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of sterols, stanols, sterol esters, stanol esters, and mixtures thereof, and (b) at least about 50% by weight of at least one compound selected from the group consisting of sugars, sugar alcohols, and mixtures thereof, based on the total weight of the composition, wherein said composition is in the form of a solid solution and is prepared by a process comprising the steps of: (i) melting components (a) and (b) together, until said components have completely melted, without the addition of water, to form a melt, ii) mixing said melt to form a mixed melt, iii) cooling said mixed melt to ambient temperature, thereby forming said solid solution, and iv) size reducing said solid solution to form particles, wherein said particles are wetted and release fine-particle sterol or stanol in dispersed form when mixed with water or a water- or fat-containing preparation.