The present study examines the interactive effects of three fatty acids: myristic, palmitic and stearic acids, with dietary cholesterol, on lipoprotein metabolism in the hamster. Each saturated fatty acid was fed at a concentration of 100 g pure synthetic triacylglycerol/kg in the presence of 100 g triolein/kg and was fed in the presence of 0.05, 1.2 or 2.4 g dietary cholesterol/kg. Dietary cholesterol increased the concentration of cholesterol in each of the major plasma lipoprotein fractions. The largest effects on VLDL and LDL were seen in the presence of tripalmitin where the increase between the lowest and highest dietary cholesterol groups were 129% and 38% respectively. In contrast, HDL showed the greatest change in the tristearin group when the equivalent increase was 59%. No interactive effects of dietary cholesterol and fat were seen on hepatic mRNA concentrations for the LDL receptor, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase or the microsomal triacylglycerol transfer protein. As the amount of cholesterol in the diet increased, large differences were seen in the storage of hepatic cholesterol ester. At the highest dietary cholesterol intake the amount of hepatic cholesterol ester was 1.7-fold higher in the animals fed trimyristin compared with those fed tripalmitin. These results suggest that, as the amount of cholesterol in the diet is increased, palmitic acid becomes more hypercholesterolaemic. This is associated with a reduced ability to store cholesterol ester in the liver.