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Effect of Type of Dietary Fat and Cholesterol on Cholesterol Absorption Rate in Squirrel Monkeys¹

Department of Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, Beaverton, Oregon 97005, and the Department of Biochemistry, University of Oregon Health Sciences Center, Portland, Oregon 97201

To explore the effect of the type of dietary fat and the level of cholesterol on the rate of cholesterol absorption, 13 different male squirrel monkeys were used for 39 different tests. The plasma isotope ratio technique of Zilversmit, which involved the injection of ³H-cholesterol and gastric intubation of ¹⁴C-cholesterol, was shown to give reproducible results which compared well with those based on a method involving labeled ß-sitosterol. The percentages of ingested cholesterol that were absorbed showed considerable variation among individuals but were relatively constant in the same animal. Safflower oil, a highly unsaturated fat, promoted a higher rate of cholesterol absorption than butter, regardless of the level of dietary cholesterol. The rate of cholesterol absorption was a constant percentage of that fed regardless of the absolute level of cholesterol in the habitual diet or the test meal (up to 218 mg or 5+ mg/kcal). Even at low levels of dietary cholesterol the percent absorption is greater in squirrel monkeys than in man.

KEY WORDS: • dietary fat • cholesterol • cholesterol absorption rate • plasma isotope ratio method • squirrel monkey

¹ This work was supported by a grant-in-aid from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md. (HL 09744). This is publication No. 884 from the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, supported in part by grant No. RR 00163.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Manuscript received 11 October 1976.