Cholesterol reducing chewing gum composition and method of making the same

1. A chewing gum composition comprising an outer shell enclosing at least one cavity and a liquid center within the at least one cavity, and said liquid center comprising at least one stanol compound in an amount from about 1 to 90% by weight based on the total weight of the chewing gum composition, said amount being sufficient to provide a positive cholesterol effect when ingesting up to about seven individual serving portions per day.

2. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the at least one stanol compound is selected from the group consisting of a plant stanol, sterols and sterol fatty acid esters and derivatives thereof, and combinations thereof.

3. The chewing gum composition of claim 2 wherein the at least one stanol compound is selected from the group consisting of beta-sitosterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, brassicasterol, cycloartenol, cyclobranol and combinations thereof.

4. The chewing gum composition of claim 2 wherein the at least one stanol compound is selected from the group consisting of a plant stanol.

5. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the amount of at least one stanol compound is present from about 20% to 70% by weight based on the total weight of the chewing gum composition.

6. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein no more than four serving portions of the chewing gum composition per day are employed to obtain the positive cholesterol effect.

7. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the positive cholesterol effect is a cholesterol reducing effect.

8. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the effective amount of the at least one stanol compound is from about 1.0 to 2.0 g per day.

9. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the at least one stanol compound is present in an amount of from about 100 mg to 500 mg.

10. The chewing gum composition of claim 9 wherein the at least one stanol compound is present in an amount from about 300 mg to 480 mg.

11. The chewing gum composition of claim 1 wherein the outer shell comprises a gum base.

12. A method of forming a chewing gum composition having a positive cholesterol effect comprising forming a liquid center formulation containing an effective amount of at least one stanol compound and combining the liquid center formulation with an outer shell formulation to form a center fill chewing gum composition containing from about 1 to 90% by weight of at least one stanol compound based on the total weight of the chewing gum composition, said amount being sufficient to provide a positive cholesterol effect when ingesting up to seven individual serving portions per day.

13. A method of reducing or maintaining cholesterol levels in a warm-blooded animal, comprising administering to the warm-blooded animal with an effective amount of the chewing gum composition of claim 1 .

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the amount of the at least one plant stanol compound is from about 20 to 70% by weight based on the total weight of the chewing gum composition.