Cholesterol Question

[Karen's Krazy Kitchen]

Hi - I am taking a on-line nutrition course and would appreciate input on cholesteral. I understand that saturated fat causes the liver to produce cholesteral which causes increased cholesteral in the blood What I can't seem to get a straight answer on is does food that contains cholesteral cause the liver to produce cholesteral or does that cholesteral go right into the blood or is it processed like unsaturated oil??? If anyone can clarify just what happens in the body when dietary cholesteral is consumed, I would really appreciate it

[Shirl (J) 831]

Karen's Krazy Kitchen wrote:
Hi - I am taking a on-line nutrition course and would appreciate input on cholesteral. I understand that saturated fat causes the liver to produce cholesteral which causes increased cholesteral in the blood What I can't seem to get a straight answer on is does food that contains cholesteral cause the liver to produce cholesteral or does that cholesteral go right into the blood or is it processed like unsaturated oil??? If anyone can clarify just what happens in the body when dietary cholesteral is consumed, I would really appreciate it

75% of your blood cholesterol comes from the liver and cells
25% comes from food (doesnt sound like much eh?)

KEEP in min that 25% comes from animal sources, plant based foods have NO cholesterol.


Cholesterol is made in the liver and it is then sent to the blood stream, where it is absorbed into the body’s cells and it can be used. The unused cholesterol is sent back into the liver to be recycled or eliminated.

does this help

[Karen's Krazy Kitchen]

Hi – Thx. so much for your reply but your answer does not clear up my dilemma To reword my question based on your reply, my question is about the 25 percent of cholesterol that we get from animal sources (including eggs). Does this cholesterol cause the liver to produce more cholesterol like saturated fat does or does this cholesterol go right into the blood or is it processed like unsaturated oil

[Denise!]

I did find this -

Normally, cholesterol -- both from your food and liver -- is absorbed through the small intestine and circulates into the bloodstream.

Did that help at all?

[Karen's Krazy Kitchen]

Yes, I think it did because I think that is saying that dietary cholesterol does not cause the liver to produce cholesteral (like saturated fat does) but it instead, absorbs it. I will research further to see what happens to it once it gets into the blood. The reason this is bugging me is because it appears to me eating saturated fat is much more of hazard than eating cholesterol (hence, the egg has come off the bad list). Gosh, nutrition is one deep subject. Thank you so much for your help. Karen.

[terminatedtrashpile]

Dietary Cholesterol has nothing to do with what the liver produces. They are stand alone sources of Cholesterol. You liver produces ALL the Cholestrol you need [unless you have some weird disease which both I and the Cardiac Rehab nurse are still researching to find out if there is such a thing]

So if tomorrow you decide to go Vegan [no dietary source of cholesterol at all], you won't die from lack of Cholesterol.

On the other hand the Liver can produce TOO MUCH cholesterol for you and you will have a Vegan who has High Cholesterol. [That has been documented.]