 Though nuts and seeds are packed with phytosterols, phytosterols are typically prescribed in butter form, I kid you not, or in margarine, even worse. For those wanting to lower their heart disease risk, eating trans fats is the last thing you need. Eating margarine to get phytosterols is like eating fish to get omega-3s. Remember, food is a package deal. By choosing plant-based sources, we can get the nutrients we want without trans fats or mercury. Eating nuts and seeds offers the good without the bad. Studies show smaller, more frequent doses may be more effective than one big dose in a spreader of pill, which makes total sense, right? Given the trash picker analogy, we want to have phytosterols constantly flowing through our gut throughout the day so they'll continue to keep stuffing the bins of our intestinal lining cells, allowing excess cholesterol to pass. Another reason that pills may not work as well is that we need fat to optimally absorb phytosterols, so that's why they package it in margarine spreads. But, you know, nature put phytosterols right where you need it in nuts and seeds, which have more than enough fat. But now there's like phytosterol, fortified orange juice, and lemonade, and like with the pills, we would not expect phytosterols to be as effectively absorbed.