The liver produces about 80% of the total body cholesterol (about 800-1,500 milligrams daily) processing saturated fat and sugars. The rest of the 20% come from the foods that you eat. On of the main functions of the liver is to provide all tissues in your body with the adequate amount of cholesterol and triglycerides required for their function.

About 8 hours after you have eaten a meal, the liver will absorb the dietary cholesterol and the triglycerides it needs from the bloodstream. However, If the liver doesn’t find any available dietary cholesterol it will have to produce cholesterol and triglycerides by itself. (If the liver didn’t produce cholesterol by itself, than people who don’t consume animal foods, such as vegetarians or vegans, wouldn’t have the needed amounts of cholesterol in their blood and they surely could not have survived.)

After than liver had taken the cholesterol from the bloodstream it packs the cholesterol along with fats, triglycerides and proteins into lipoproteins that are later distributed into the bloodstream aimed at providing the cells with the necessary cholesterol and triglycerides.

Except from blood cholesterol that comes merely from our diet, your body desperately needs cholesterol in order to strengthen the cells, help in production of vitamin D and hormones like estrogen and cortisone. Only when blood cholesterol is too high, then things become dangerous. Even so, if your liver function is at its peak, like with some African tribes, it will eventually be able to regulate and maintain the excess amount of cholesterol coming from your diet, regardless of how much saturated fat you consumed.

Although the above case is extremely rare, it’s advisable to test your liver function from time to time combined with the regular blood cholesterol tests. It is also recommended to conduct a liver cleanse once a year just to make this important organ function at its best.