New Data for Cholesterol Contents in Meat, Fish, Milk, Eggs and Their Products Consumed in Finland

This study was undertaken to produce cholesterol data in order to update the Finnish National Food Composition Data Base. The sampling included meat, fish, milk, eggs and their products. Sample preparation by a direct saponification method was applied. The cholesterol contents were determined by gas chromatography (GC) using an internal standard method for quantification. In meat and sausages the cholesterol contents ranged from 45 to 84 mg/100 g and from 36 to 75 mg/100 g, respectively. In most fish species the cholesterol contents were slightly higher ranging from 49 to 92 mg/100 g and they did not correlate with the fat contents. The contents in liquid milk products correlated with their fat contents ranging from 6.2 (milk with 1.5% fat) to 77 mg/100 g (cream with 38% fat). The corresponding range for cheese was 33–82 mg/100 g. The mean cholesterol content of eggs was 366 mg/100 g. The results were generally in line with other results, which have been recently obtained. However, for meat and high-fat milk products our results were partly lower than those reported in some food composition tables. The study showed that food composition databases should be periodically updated, i.e., by applying the most recent analytical methods and taking into account changes in foods available for consumption.