Cholesterol is present in all foods of animal source. Its content, however, varies depending on the product type (for example, milk vs meat), origin of the product (for example, meat type: beef vs chicken) and the body part of the animal the meat comes from (for example, brain vs beef). Also in milk, it varies depending on the origin (for example, cow milk vs goat milk) or the processed end product.
To formulate your diet and manage your health, it helps to be aware of what major foods contribute to high blood cholesterol. In the following tables are lists of cholesterol food sources and their corresponding content. They represent the top 100 foods with the highest cholesterol content, from a list of more than 7,500 food items commonly consumed in North America and we sort out the top 50 for your reference. The data is obtained from the USDA Nutrient Data Laboratory, the gold standard reference for nutritional data.
| Rank | Food items | Cholesterol content (mg/ 100 g edible food portion) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beef, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, simmered | 3,100.00 |
| 2 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, braised | 3,100.00 |
| 3 | Beef, variety meats and by-products, brain, raw | 3,010.00 |
| 4 | Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, braised | 2,552.00 |
| 5 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, pan-fried | 2,504.00 |
| 6 | Egg, yolk, dried | 2,335.00 |
| 7 | Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, brain, raw | 2,195.00 |
| 8 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, pan-fried | 2,120.00 |
| 9 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, braised | 2,043.00 |
| 10 | Egg, whole, dried, stabilized, glucose reduced | 2,017.00 |
| 11 | Beef, variety meats and by-products, brain, cooked, pan-fried | 1,995.00 |
| 12 | Egg, whole, dried | 1,715.00 |
| 13 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, brain, raw | 1,590.00 |
| 14 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, brain, raw | 1,352.00 |
| 15 | Egg, yolk, raw, fresh | 1,234.00 |
| 16 | Egg, yolk, raw, frozen | 1,075.00 |
| 17 | Egg, yolk, raw, frozen, sugared | 959.00 |
| 18 | Egg, yolk, raw, frozen, salted | 955.00 |
| 19 | Egg, turkey, whole, fresh, raw | 933.00 |
| 20 | Egg, duck, whole, fresh, raw | 884.00 |
| 21 | Egg, goose, whole, fresh, raw | 852.00 |
| 22 | Egg, quail, whole, fresh, raw | 844.00 |
| 23 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, cooked, braised | 791.00 |
| 24 | Fish oil, herring | 766.00 |
| 25 | Beef, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, cooked, simmered | 716.00 |
| 26 | Fish oil, sardine | 710.00 |
| 27 | Fish, caviar, black and red, granular | 588.00 |
| 28 | Egg substitute, powder | 572.00 |
| 29 | Fish oil, cod liver | 570.00 |
| 30 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, cooked, braised | 565.00 |
| 31 | Chicken, liver, all classes, cooked, pan-fried | 564.00 |
| 32 | Chicken, liver, all classes, cooked, simmered | 563.00 |
| 33 | Fish oil, menhaden | 521.00 |
| 34 | Duck, domesticated, liver, raw | 515.00 |
| 35 | Goose, liver, raw | 515.00 |
| 36 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, braised | 511.00 |
| 37 | Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, spleen, cooked, braised | 504.00 |
| 38 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, braised | 501.00 |
| 39 | Fish oil, menhaden, fully hydrogenated | 500.00 |
| 40 | Lamb, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, pan-fried | 493.00 |
| 41 | Fish oil, salmon | 485.00 |
| 42 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, pan-fried | 485.00 |
| 43 | Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, cooked, braised | 480.00 |
| 44 | Fish, roe, mixed species, cooked, dry heat | 479.00 |
| 45 | Egg, whole, cooked, fried | 457.00 |
| 46 | Veal, variety meats and by-products, spleen, cooked, braised | 447.00 |
| 47 | Chicken, broilers or fryers, giblets, cooked, fried | 446.00 |
| 48 | Chicken, broilers or fryers, giblets, cooked, simmered | 442.00 |
| 49 | Fish, whitefish, eggs (Alaska Native) | 439.00 |
| 50 | Chicken, capons, giblets, cooked, simmered | 434.00 |
