Despite many previous studies, controversy remains concerning the effects of dietary cholesterol on plasma cholesterol concentrations. In addition, the focus of previous studies has been fasting lipid and lipoprotein concentrations; there are no published studies with postprandial measurements. We studied the effects of four levels of dietary cholesterol intake on fasting lipid, lipoprotein, and apoprotein levels, as well as postprandial lipid levels, in a group of young, healthy men who were otherwise eating a low-fat, American Heart Association step 1 diet. Twenty young, healthy men completed a randomized, four-way crossover design study to test the effects of an American Heart Association step 1 diet containing 0, 1, 2, or 4 eggs per day. Dietary cholesterol ranged from 128 to 858 mg cholesterol per day. Each diet was eaten for 8 weeks, with a break between diets. Three fasting blood samples were obtained at the end of each diet period. In addition, blood samples were obtained just before and 2, 4, and 6 hours after ingestion of a standard lunch containing the various amounts of egg cholesterol. We also obtained blood 4 and 8 hours after the subjects ingested a standard, high-fat formula. Fasting plasma total cholesterol concentrations increased by 1.47 mg/dL (0.038 mmol/L) for every 100 mg dietary cholesterol added to the diet (P < .001). Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol increased in parallel. Responsiveness varied but appeared to be normally distributed. Fasting plasma apoprotein B concentrations increased approximately 10% between the 0- and 4-egg diets and were correlated with changes in total and LDL cholesterol concentrations. Although there was a trend toward a greater response in men with an apoprotein E4 allele, this was not statistically significant. Fasting plasma cholesteryl ester transfer protein levels were higher only on the 4-egg diet, and changes in cholesteryl ester transfer protein levels between the 0- and 4-egg diets correlated with changes in total and LDL cholesterol. There were no differences in the postlunch or post-fat-formula responses of plasma lipids across the diets. Incubation of the 4-hour postlunch serum with J774 macrophages did not affect cell cholesteryl ester content at any level of dietary cholesterol. Cellular free cholesterol levels were slightly higher on each of the egg-containing diets versus the 0-egg diet. In summary, increases in dietary cholesterol resulted in linear increases in fasting total and LDL cholesterol in young, healthy men.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)