Lymphatic Transport of Cholesterol in the Human Being. Effect of Dietary Cholesterol

Abstract

The effect of dietary cholesterol on lymphatic cholesterol transport was studied in 6 subjects cannulated in their left thoracic duct. Feeding a fatty meal increased cholesterol transport 2–3-fold over the fasting state. Addition of cholesterol to the fat fed led to no significant further increase in lymphatic cholesterol transport. The results indicate that in the intestinal tract dietary cholesterol is mixed with a relatively much larger pool of endogenous sterol that already almost saturates the absorption capacity of the intestine for cholesterol.

Key Words:

• Absorption
• cholesterol
• endogenous cholesterol
• exogenous cholesterol
• intestinal absorption
• lymphatic transport
• thoracic duct lymph