A nutrient is considered essential when your body can not make enough of it for your physiological functions and you have to get it from the diet. Although you can get lecithin and cholesterol from food, your body can make the amounts you need on a daily basis. Therefore, they are not considered essential nutrients. However, these two nutrients can become limited in certain situations such as infancy, making dietary supply necessary.
Lecithin Production
Lecithin is also called phosphatidylcholine. Your body can make lecithin or phosphatidylcholine from a lipid called phosphatidylethanolamine, with the help of the amino acid methionine, as reviewed by the Oregon State University. Alternatively, your body can derive lecithin from choline, a vitamin-like nutrient. Your body can also do the opposite by using lecithin to make choline. Because most of the choline in foods is in the form of lecithin, this process is important to provide the choline that your body needs. Milk, eggs, peanuts, and animal liver are great food sources of lecithin.
Functions of Lecithin
Lecithin is an integral part of low-density lipoprotein or LDL, which is often referred to as the bad cholesterol in the blood. LDL transports cholesterol and fats out of the liver, delivering it to other parts of the body. In lecithin or choline deficiency, fats accumulate in the liver, causing fatty liver disease and liver damage. Lecithin is also used to make bile, an emulsifying agent that your body uses to digest dietary fats.
Cholesterol Production
Your body can produce all the cholesterol you need. Most of the cholesterol synthesis occurs in the liver and intestine, using the fragments obtained from fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Your liver alone produces 700 mg to 900 mg cholesterol daily, which is about two thirds of your daily cholesterol needs, according to Lincoln University and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cholesterol you take in from diet may inhibit your body's cholesterol production. However, the inhibition varies among individuals. Some people respond to high-cholesterol diet with reduced internal production while others continue to manufacture large amounts of cholesterol.
Functions of Cholesterol
While often depicted as the culprit for cardiovascular disease, cholesterol is actually essential for health. Cholesterol is present in virtually every cell in your body. It is an important component of the cell membrane. Your body uses cholesterol to make vitamin D, the hormone-like vitamin that you need for calcium absorption and the health of many organs, including the bones and the brain. Cholesterol provides the starting material for hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, and is incorporated into bile for fat digestion and absorption.
