Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 18, 2026

A Clinical Trial Assessing the Safety, Efficacy, and Delivery of Olive-Oil-Based Three-Chamber Bags for Parenteral Nutrition
Published on: September 20, 2019
Benefit-risk assessment of plant sterols in margarine: a QALIBRA case study
Jeljer Hoekstra1, Heidi P Fransen, Jan C H van Eijkeren
1National Institute of for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands. jeljer.hoekstra@rivm.nl
Abstract:
This paper presents the benefit-risk assessment of adding plant sterols to margarine as an illustration of the QALIBRA method and software. With the QALIBRA tool health effects, risks as well as benefits are expressed in a common metric (DALY) which allows quantitative balancing of benefits and risks of food intake. The QALIBRA software can handle uncertainties in a probabilistic simulation. This simple case study illustrates the data need and assumptions that go into a quantitative benefit-risk assessment. The assessment shows that the benefits of plant sterols added to margarine outweigh the risks, if any.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Biopharmaceutical Studies: Controlled and Non-Controlled Approaches
Non-controlled studies, commonly employed for initial exploration, lack a control group, rendering them susceptible to biases and external influences. In contrast, controlled...
Lipid Digestion
Lipid-Lowering Drugs: Statins and Miscellaneous Agents
Lipids: Dietary Sources and Requirements
Lipid Absorption
These breakdown products bind with bile salts and lecithin to form micelles, which quickly pass between microvilli to come in close contact with the apical...
