A strain of efficient cholesterol- degrading lactobacillus La-3 was screened from yoghourt, and its cholesterol-degrading ability was studied. The optimum condition for degradation of cholesterol were obtained by single factor and orthogonal test, that was, culture for 72 h, cholesterol concentration 1.5 mg/mL, inoculum size 4%, and the cholesterol-degradation rate was 51.2%.