Studies on Intestinal Cholesterol Absorption in the Human

While the main part of our dietary fat, the glycerides, are absorbed with an efficiency of around 99 per cent, the small amount of choles-terol normally dissolved therein is absorbed to a much lesser extent. Results of balance studies in man have shown that the extent of absorption varies widely with the amotunt fed and the meth-ods used for determining fecal steroids (1). The total capacity of the human intestine to absorb cholesterol has been determined to be around 3 g per day (2). Experiments with labeled choles-terol fed in a single dose have given absorption figures generally even lower than those obtained from balance studies. Thus Biggs and colleagues (3) reported that of 856 and 688 mg tritium-la-