Effects of cocoa butter on serum lipids in humans: historical highlights.

It has been known for some time that cocoa butter, although rich in saturated fatty acids, does not raise total serum cholesterol concentrations as much as expected from its total saturated fatty acid content. Whether the effect of cocoa butter feeding on low-density-lipoprotein- (LDL)-cholesterol concentrations was also less than predicted by its total saturated fatty acid content needed to be tested. In a recent experiment cocoa butter did not raise LDL cholesterol as much as predicted by its total saturated fatty acid content. However, because of its significant palmitic acid content, cocoa butter did raise LDL-cholesterol concentrations more than do most liquid vegetable oils.