Research

Hormonal

In healthy individuals consuming low-cholesterol diets, the absolute milligram amount of dietary cholesterol absorbed (not the efficiency of absorption) is strongly and independently correlated with fasting plasma insulin, C-peptide, and glucagon levels, serving as a marker for insulin resistance.

If you are healthy and eat a balanced diet, your body's ability to absorb cholesterol (efficiency) doesn't change much based on what you eat. However, the actual amount of cholesterol you absorb is linked to higher insulin levels. To manage insulin sensitivity, focus on the total amount of cholesterol and fat in your diet rather than trying to alter your body's absorption efficiency.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The milligram amount of dietary cholesterol absorbed (but not percent absorption) was positively correlated with fasting plasma insulin (P < 0.0001), C-peptide (P = 0.0003) and glucagon (P < 0.0001) independent of gender, body fat percent and age.
Matthew S. Bosner et al. · Journal of Lipid Research · 1999

Why this rating

Large sample size (n=94), rigorous dual-isotope methodology, and statistically significant independent correlations.

Source

Percent cholesterol absorption in normal women and men quantified with dual stable isotopic tracers and negative ion mass spectrometry

Matthew S. Bosner et al. · Journal of Lipid Research · 1999

DOI 10.1016/s0022-2275(20)33370-8

cross_sectional · n=94Cited 310×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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