Depression of Plasma Cholesterol in Calves by Supplementing a High Cholesterol Liquid Diet with Dry Feed

Abstract

Young calves were fed whole milk with cholesterol added at 25, 100, 175 and 250 mg per kilogram calf weight daily for 8 weeks. Half the calves at each level also were fed a dry starter diet. All received a vitamin-mineral supplement in the milk. Plasma cholesterol of milk-fed, 25-mg-level calves plateaued at approximately 150 mg/100 ml; that of the other milk-fed calves plateaued at about 250 mg, with no significant differences among the three higher cholesterol-intake groups. Maximum absorption as measured by plasma cholesterol was reached at the 100-mg level of intake, in which dietary cholesterol:fat was approximately 1:31. Plasma cholesterol of the 25-mg-level calves fed milk and starter was similar to that of the same group fed no starter. Higher dietary cholesterol for calves fed milk and starter effected no additional response; maximum absorption was reached at a dietary cholesterol:fat ratio of about 1:95. Thus, feeding starter markedly suppressed plasma cholesterol despite similar intakes of cholesterol and fat in calves fed the two types of diet. After removal of cholesterol from the diet and restriction of the diet to starter only, cholesterol levels declined rapidly to about 100 mg/100 ml plasma.