What is Cholesterol and Where is it Found?
Cholesterol is not technically a fat, but it is a fat-soluble lipid. It is used in the body’s manufacture of hormones, Vitamin D, and bile acids as well as in the structure of cell walls.
Your liver makes about 1000mg of cholesterol every day and your body doesn’t need much more than that. When you take in too much cholesterol (mainly from foods high in saturated fat) your body has difficulty getting rid of the excess and it accumulates in the tissues.
Foods high in cholesterol are high fat dairy, egg yolks, fatty meats, and poultry skin. As you can see, these are all animal products. Since cholesterol is manufactured in the liver, it is not present in any foods of plant origin.
So when you see food in the supermarket with “No Cholesterol” in bold type on the label, consider whether it’s a food that ordinarily has an animal product containing cholesterol in it. If not, the words are just a consumer ploy.
