Recognizing that the high viscosity of chitosan in solution hinders its use as a food additive, the authors propose that it is desirable to prepare chitosans with low viscosity without largely influencing the hypocholesterolemic of normal chitosan. To this end, the authors discuss the properties of chitoson and chitosan hydrolysates with different molecular weights, and discusses the effects of chitosan hydrolysates on serum and liver lipid levels and on fecal steroid excretion, as well as the effects of chitosan hydrolysates on lymphatic absorption of cholesterol and fatty acids. The authors concluded that the partial hydrolysates of chitosan interfered with intestinal absorption of cholesterol and increased fecal excretion of neutral steroids in rats. Although feeding study did not necessarily show a significant hypocholesterolemic effects, they markedly reduced the concentration of liver cholesterol and triglyceride. From the results of the two different approaches, chitosan hydrolysates with water-like viscosity and molecular weights of 5,000 to 20,000 were as effective as high-viscous chitosans with molecular weights of 50,000 or above. The effect appeared to be more preferable that the guar gum hydrolysates. From these results, chitosan hydrolysates can be applied as food additives without largely influencing the properties of the products.

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