From where does cholesterol come into the digestive tract?
The main sources are dietary and biliary cholesterol (Cholesterol comes to the dietary tract as dietary cholesterol and as biliary cholesterol). Dietary cholesterol originates from the foods we eat (e.g. egg yolks, meat, cream, butter); only foods from animal sources contain cholesterol. Biliary cholesterol enters the digestive tract with the bile solution. Bile solution comes from the liver and is needed for fat digestion. Normally about 50% of the dietary and biliary cholesterol is absorbed from the digestive tract into the bloodstream but plant stanol ester is able to effectively reduce this absorption. Reduced cholesterol absorption results in reduced blood total and LDL cholesterol levels.
