Does The Cholesterol In Food Matter?
Memory and learning wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for cholesterol. It is a critical component of cell membranes without which cell structure would suffer. Cholesterol is used to make bile, helps in digestion and absorption of dietary fats, and is vital for the health of our brain cells. Learn the connection between the cholesterol in food and blood cholesterol.
Canada has one of the longest life expectancies in the world. Many of the top causes of death such as cancer and cardiovascular disease can be prevented to a great extent by lifestyle; including, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active, avoiding tobacco use, moderate alcohol consumption, and by following a healthy diet.
Cardiovascular disease, in particular, heart illness and stroke, are very amenable to diet; eating minimally processed, wholesome foods rich in nutrients and antioxidants with anti-inflammatory properties gives you the biggest bang for your nutritional buck when it comes to prevention.
Cholesterol In Food And Blood Cholesterol
As one of several risk factors for cardiovascular disease, elevated blood (serum) cholesterol stands out.
As a marker of an underlying metabolic dysfunction, blood cholesterol levels are the primary target of medical intervention when it comes to prevention (primarily because LDL cholesterol is easily targeted with statins).
Medications will help to lower blood cholesterol, but they also have anti-inflammatory properties as well which accounts for some of their benefits, but that is never acknowledged.
Historically, the goal of nutritional therapy has been to help lower both total and HDL cholesterol levels by reducing production in the liver by eating less saturated and trans fat, and by increasing removal of cholesterol via the stool with dietary fiber.
It was once thought that eating less dietary cholesterol might help with this as well because on the surface it seemed to make sense; eating less cholesterol would mean less cholesterol circulating in the blood after digestion.
In a well-meaning but misguided fashion, this was part of the dietary guidelines for the prevention and treatment of elevated blood cholesterol (a.k.a. dyslipidemia) for decades despite there never really being any meaningful evidence to support this recommendation or hypothesis.
It’s important to note, that the recommendation to “eat less” cholesterol was never meant to be interpreted as “eat no” cholesterol which is why foods that naturally contain cholesterol-like lobster, shrimp, and eggs were never “off the menu” because eliminating nutritious foods wouldn’t be wise dietary advice.
Fast forward to today. Most governmental health officials now recognize the fact that blood cholesterol is controlled by the liver; when we eat less cholesterol the liver produces more and vice versa, when we get more cholesterol from the foods we eat, the liver naturally produce less.
Dietary cholesterol has virtually no impact on the amount of cholesterol found in the blood, and dietary cholesterol does not impact cardiovascular disease risk.
It is for this reason that the latest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020 states that dietary cholesterol is no longer a nutrient of concern and that the overall dietary pattern (both regarding the quality and quantity of food choices) is more important than focusing on any one nutrient.
I’ve written about the role of saturated fat on cholesterol levels and overall cardiovascular disease risk before. In a nutshell, saturated fat is not the evil du jour it was once thought to be.
Cholesterol Is Vital For Health
The war against cholesterol is finally starting to wane and with good reason; cholesterol has many vital functions.
It is a critical component of cell membranes without which cell structure would suffer. It is the precursor to all steroid hormones like estrogen and testosterone. Cholesterol is the backbone of vitamin D (produced when sunlight interacts with the cholesterol in our skin), is used to make bile, a key player in the digestion and absorption of dietary fats, and is vital for the health of our brain cells.
Memory and learning wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for cholesterol.
Whether it’s whole eggs or a liquid egg product, the presence of any cholesterol is not a concern. In fact, most of the nutrients are found in the yolk such as vitamin A, phosphorus, folate, choline, carotenoids like alpha and beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin.
The amount of cholesterol found in eggs creation is but a trace, but because it’s present in the product, it has to be listed in the nutrition facts table.
Whole grains, High-fiber fruit, Fatty fish, Flax seeds, Nuts...Chia. Olive oil, those are all natural sources of healthy cholesterol source. They all support heart-healthy fat, which can increase your HDL and lower the inflammatory impact of LDL cholesterol on your body.
For best results, you can start supplementation with Fish oil supplements, Turmeric Curcumin supplements, Ginko Biloba or Flex seeds supplements.
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