3 1 4 or 1 6 bonds and the percent of each type can vary preferably beta glucans derived from yeast particularly from saccharomyces preferably saccharomyces cerevisiae are used for the present invention it will be appreciated however that other beta glucans would also be suitable further examples for suitable biopolymers are chitin and its derivatives preferably oligoglucosamin and chitosan which represents a typical hydrocolloid chitosan is obtained by deacetylisation of chitin and shows molecular weights in the range of 50 000 up to 2 000 000 sterols u2014 also called sterins u2014 represent steroids showing a single hydroxyl group linked to the c 3 in addition sterols which consist of 27 to 30 carbon atoms may show a double bond preferably in 5 6 position the hydrogenation of the double bond u201c hardening u201d leads to sterols which are usually called stanols the figure below shows the structure of the best known member of the sterol family cholesterol which belongs to the group of zoosterols due to their superior physiological activity the plant sterols so called phytosterols like ergosterol stigmasterol and especially sitosterol and its hydrogenation product sitastanol are the preferred species in addition instead of the sterols or stanols their esters with saturated or unsaturated fatty acids having 6 to 26 carbon atoms and up to 6 double bonds can be used typical examples are the.