Banana, pomegranate, pepper, coffee, grapefruit, cucumber, onion, oat, potato, and lemon grass (citronella) are few examples of common sources containing campesterol at roughly 1–7 mg/100 g of the edible portion.

Anabolic steroids like testosterone and boldenone are among the compounds that can be biosynthesized from either cholesterol or phytosterols like campesterol through a process called steroidogenesis.

This led to suspicions that some of the athletes that have tested positive on boldenone undecylenate did not actually abuse the hormone itself, but had increased levels because they consumed food rich in campesterol or similar phytosteroids.

A 2012 meta-analysis found that no clear relationship exists between campesterol or sitosterol blood levels and risk of cardiovascular disease, and that perhaps previous studies have been confounded by other factors.

However, this is an active area of debate, and no data suggest that modestly elevated levels of campesterol have a negative cardiac impact.