TEL AVIV, Jan 25: Israeli scientists say cream and butter lovers can now eat guilt-free thanks to a chemical process that removes cholesterol from the body.

Professor Nissim Garti, a chemist at the Hebrew University, has designed what he calls tiny “nano-vehicles” to deliver specific nutrients to the bloodstream and inhibit the delivery of other molecules, such as cholesterol.

Garti’s custom-made nano-vehicles transport phytosterols — plant fats believed to help combat cholesterol — to the blood stream instead of cholesterol.

The cholesterol is expelled through the digestive system and the phytosterols are discharged by the body which is incapable of utilizing them, Garti said.

“The result is that after a few weeks of intake of these new vehicles, the levels of total cholesterol are reduced by 15 to 30 percent depending on the amount of daily intake,” he said.

The so-called vehicles which Garti designs for each individual compound are about five to 15 nanometres and are made out of water, oil, an emulsifier and alcohol. A nanometre is one billionth of a metre.—Reuters