Milk Lipids | Removal of Cholesterol from Dairy Products

The ‘diet–heart hypothesis’ postulated that a diet high in cholesterol and saturated fats is a possible risk factor for developing human hypercholesterolemia. This led to the notion that certain specific foods, especially animal-derived foods, are unhealthy. As a result, methods were developed that can remove or separate cholesterol from such foods. These methods can be summarized as biological, chemical, and physical processes. Biological processes involve the use of microorganisms or enzymes from these microorganisms to remove cholesterol. Physical processes include short-path distillation, crystallization methods as well as supercritical fluid extraction with carbon dioxide. Finally, the solid–liquid extraction using adsorbents such as activated charcoal, coated porous glass, ceramics, or plastics and complex formation with β-cyclodextrin or with an aqueous solution of bile salts and one or several glyceryl esters or with cyclic anhydrides rank among chemical processes. Depending on the methods used, up to 95% of the native cholesterol can be removed from dairy products such as milk, milk fat and cream, butter and buttermilk as well as cheese. Since dietary cholesterol is no longer a possible risk factor for developing human hypercholesterolemia, investigations to remove cholesterol from foods of animal origin are no longer justified.