I don't have the numbers handy but my recollection is that 60%+ of blood cholesterol is made by the body.

But diet can have a big impact, at least in some people. I've been talking with a friend about his dietary experiments. He reduced his lipids blood cholesterol substantially in 2 months just by changing his diet (no junk snacks, no cheeses, very careful about fats and cholesterol):

Total cholesterol:_________208____128
Triglicerides: ____________154____ 49
HDL ___________________40____ 43
LDL ___________________137____ 75

This would seem to agree with my experiments earlier in the summer with my home test kit - that diet can reduce the numbers substantially, but I'll have to see if that holds up...

As you say, cholesterol is essential in the body. In addition to making up much of the brain, it also other important functions. But too much of the wrong kind in the blood seems to be bad - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cholesterol (There is that weird family in Italy that's the exception - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoccareddo )

Dietary recommendations are complicated, but it's difficult to find the real story about things like red meat, not to mention fats and oils. It shouldn't be that hard to present a more detailed story in a way that people who are interested in the details can find them.

[edit:] Cleaned up the description of the table some to make it more clear.

Cheers,
Scott.

I used lipids as a synonym. I shouldn't have done that.

It's complicated, and surely seems to be the case that the "cheat sheet" instructions we're given ("red meat bad" "fats bad" "whole grains good") aren't sufficient for many of us.

Thanks.

(Off to edit the post.)

Cheers,
Scott.