February 7/Food & Beverage Close-Up -- Corazonas Foods announced its new partnership with CoroWise.

Kicking-off their collaboration, the companies reported that they are advocating a different approach to traditional New Year's resolutions, and encouraging people worried about cholesterol to resolve to love snacking again, by enjoying foods made with plant sterols, which per a release, have been clinically shown to lower cholesterol.

"People make healthy New Year's resolutions every year, but a lot of times -- especially when it comes to diet -- they wind up feeling deprived, frustrated, and end up abandoning their resolutions," said Ramona Cappello, founder of Corazonas Foods. "At Corazonas, we want consumers to know they have options, and support them in setting goals they can actually keep this year: to make smart food choices and resolve to enjoy snacking again. Along with our new partnership with the CoroWise brand, we're excited to give people trying to manage cholesterol some truly delicious snack options that may help lower cholesterol with clinically-proven ingredients."

Corazonas tortilla chips, potato chips, and Oatmeal Squares will now be made exclusively with CoroWise plant sterols. The groups said that the amount of plant sterols in each Corazonas snack will remain unchanged, with 0.4g in each ounce (one serving) of potato or tortilla chips, and 0.8g in each Oatmeal Square. The FDA-authorized health claim currently recommends that one consume at least 0.4g of plant sterols twice each day to start seeing cholesterol-lowering benefits.

From the February 21, 2011, Prepared Foods E-dition