Dietary cholesterol and cholesterol in your blood are not closely related. Read on to learn more.
What is Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance. It occurs naturally in the body. Cholesterol is necessary for bodily functions as it is a major part of cell walls. Cholesterol is also in the food that we eat. You may have heard about certain foods (eggs) that are high in cholesterol. These foods were, at one time, deemed unhealthy. This is not the case.
High cholesterol foods were put on an unhealthy list for a couple of reasons. None of these reasons are bad, they have just been proven wrong in recent research. With new research techniques and modern technology we must always be looking at conclusions from the past to make sure we are making the best choices we can. The major reason was due to higher cholesterol levels being linked to increased heart disease (This has been proven to be a lot more complicated).
It has been found in recent literature that dietary cholesterol does not change cholesterol levels in 60% or more of the population. The other 40% are considered hyperresponders to cholesterol and their cholesterol levels do increase, but it doesn't increase the risk for heart disease. What is of more value regarding heart health is lipoproteins.
Lipoproteins
When you have your blood tested for cholesterol, it is actually to look at lipoproteins. You may have heard of Low-Density Lipoproteins (LDL) and High-Density Lipoproteins (HDL). You may have heard that LDL is "bad" cholesterol and HDL is "good" cholesterol. While not entirely untrue, there is more to it than that. LDL is what is looked at to asses your heart risk, but it is the total number of particles.
There are two sizes of particles of LDL; small, dense particles and large. People with higher levels of the small LDL particles have been shown to be at more risk for heart problems.
Dietary Cholesterol
As mentioned above, most of us do not get an increase in cholesterol from food. The hyperresponders also don't see an increased risk of heart disease. Although it is possible to increase the cholesterol in the body for these people, the dietary cholesterol that is added to the body is the large LDL particles. Therefore there is not an increase in heart risk.
Risk Factors for Heart Disease
As discussed above high levels of small LDL particles are a risk factor for heart health, but bigger factors are:
High Blood Pressure
Inflammation
Oxidative Stress
Smoking
Conclusion
With the newest research showing the differentiation in blood cholesterol and dietary cholesterol, HDL and LDL, and size of LDL particles, it is now known that dietary cholesterol has little to no effect on your health!
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