January 15, 2004
NUTRITION NEWS FOCUS
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Today's Topic: Cholesterol Absorption

Many of us reflexively think that cholesterol that passes our lips
goes straight to an artery, partly because of all of the years of
publicity about cholesterol from the American Heart Association and
the National Cholesterol Education Program.  However, it has been
known by scientists for many years that very large doses of
cholesterol lead to a decreased percentage absorption.  An article in
the August 1999 issue of the Journal of Lipid Research examined
absorption of cholesterol at moderate dietary doses.

The typical daily cholesterol intake is about 350 mg.  Baseline
cholesterol absorption was established at 41% when only 26 mg was fed
in a test meal to 18 subjects.  When 188 mg cholesterol was given,
only 36% was absorbed, and when cholesterol amounted to 421 mg
(the equivalent of two eggs), absorption dropped to 25%.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Considerable variation
was seen in absorption from subject to subject and the ranges varied
5-fold.  There are no lab tests to predict if you absorb a lot or very
little cholesterol.  However, the average absorption is clearly
decreased at usual cholesterol intake.  This could explain why studies
with feeding eggs every day to volunteers have shown almost no effect
on serum cholesterol levels.