Fighting cholesterol with saturated fat?

A saturated fat from beef, linked to a soy-derived compound, makes a promising cholesterol-lowering compound, according to a nutrition scientist at the University of Nebraska.

The soy compound, a sterol ester, is one of two plant-based compounds already used in margarines that prevent the body from absorbing cholesterol (SN: 5/30/98, p. 348). By chemically linking the ester to a saturated fat from beef tallow, Timothy P. Carr has synthesized a compound with roughly seven times the cholesterol-lowering potency of the ester alone.