| Vegan? No | Vegetarian? Maybe |
Classifications are made based on the available commercial supply of the ingredient, and are made based on the criteria on our classifications page.
Commercially available cholesterol is not vegan but may be vegetarian depending on the source.
Cholesterol is used as an emulsifier in cosmetics. It is primarily produced by extraction from bovine spinal cord and wool grease, although it can be synthetically produced.
Sources
- (Ed.). (1986). 10 Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Cholesterol. Journal of the American College of Toxicology, 5(5), 491–516.
https://doi.org/10.3109/10915818609141922