*2.1. Plant Sterol Database and Calculation of Dietary Intake*

Since there is no plant sterol database in Poland, its establishment for the purpose of this study was based on international databases, which were published in English and are publicly available [14,24]. A literature review was conducted to search for reliable data sources that would supplement the data taken from international databases. The literature search was conducted using PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify possible sources of published food composition data for plant sterols. The search terms included phytosterols, plant sterols, β-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol combined with food, cereals, vegetables, fruit, berries, nuts, seeds, legumes, beverages, coffee, tea, wine, soda, chocolate, pastry, and cookies.

The plan was to select data sources that were as complete as possible in terms of individual plant sterols (β-sitosterol, campesterol, and stigmasterol). For the total plant sterol content, the full data reported by databases or scientific sources were used or, in the absence of relevant data, the available data for plant sterol content were aggregated. The quality of the data was assessed according to the procedure described by Rand et al. [25], which takes into account the analytical method used, the number of samples, the sample handling procedures, the sampling plan for the selection of foods, and the analytical and quality assurance. The currently available techniques for sterol analysis are gas chromatography (GC), high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC), and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). GC/FID (flame-ionization detection) or GC/MS (mass spectrometry) can be considered the methods of choice for the determination of phytosterols in foods and diets [26]. For most of the studies, all of the quality criteria were met. For some food products, the number of studies was limited to only one publication; although they did not meet all quality criteria, they were included in the developed database due to lack of other publication sources. Finally, data from 13 data sources were included in the database, with 11 studies meeting the Rand criteria and 2 not meeting these criteria.

In this study, data for fats and oils were extracted from the British database of Food Composition [24], the USDA Database [14], and Normen et al. [27]. Data on plant sterols in cereals were extracted from the British database of Food Composition [24] and Normen et al. [28]. Most of the data for vegetables and potatoes were taken from Normen et al. [29]. Data gaps in the vegetables group were filled in from the publications by Han et al. [30], Piironen et al. [31], Ryan et al. [32], the British database of Food Composition [24], and the USDA Nutrient Database [14]. The plant sterol contents in fruits and berries were compiled from the USDA Database [14], Piironen et al. [31], Normen et al. [29], and Han et al. [30]. The plant sterol contents in nuts and seeds were taken from the USDA Database [14], the British database of Food Composition [24], and Normen et al. [27]. The plant sterols for legumes were compiled from Li et al. [33], Han et al. [30], the USDA Database [14], Ryan et al. [32], and Yamaya et al. [34]. Data for fruit and vegetable juices, sodas, tea, and beer were taken from Decloedt et al. [35]. Data for the plant sterols in wines were taken from Ruggiero et al. [36]. The plant sterol content in the sterolic fraction of coffee was taken from Cˇ ížková et al. [37] and recalculated per 100 g of coffee. For pastry and cookies, data were extracted from the British database of Food Composition [24], the USDA Database [14], and Piironen et al. [31]. For chocolate and chocolate candies, data were compiled from Normen et al. [27]. Data on plant sterols in foods are available in Supplementary Table S1.

For the dishes, the individual ingredients were extracted according to recipes of the National Institute of Food and Nutrition of Poland, taking into account the yield factors of the dishes. Data on plant sterols in dishes are available in Supplementary Table S2.

Finally, foods were grouped into 10 categories: cereals (flour, bread, breakfast cereals, bran, groats, and pasta), fruit (processed and non-processed), vegetables (processed and non-processed), potatoes, legumes, fats and oils (oils, margarine, and mayonnaise), coffee (instant and infusion), cookies and cakes, chocolate (chocolate and chocolate candies and bars), and other foods (tea, beer, wine, sodas, mustard, nuts, and seeds). Foods enriched with phytosterols were not included in these calculations because not all manufacturers were willing to disclose their formulations regarding individual phytosterols.

The process used to estimate plant sterols in foods is given in Figure 1.

**Figure 1.** The process used to estimate plant sterol intake.
