Every cell in your body needs cholesterol. You cannot function without it. But cholesterol is bad because high levels of cholesterol cause heart attacks, right?
The truth is that cholesterol in food makes little difference in the cholesterol in your blood. Cholesterol in food gets broken down and discarded or used by your body. The cholesterol in your blood is made by your body, not the food you eat.
After years of vilifying cholesterol, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Panel is finally admitting that eating
cholesterol will not increase the risk of heart attack. Cholesterol is “no longer considered a nutrient of concern for over-consumption.”
Cardiologists agree that it is time to stop advising people to limit cholesterol intake. “It’s the right decision; we got the dietary guidelines wrong. They’ve been wrong for decades. We told people not to eat eggs. That was never based on good science.” says Steven Nissen, chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic.
As they stand, the 2010 recommendations limit cholesterol to a mere 300 milligrams– the amount in just one egg. This has made many people afraid to eat meats, eggs, shrimp, cheese, and other foods that contain cholesterol. In doing so, those items were replaced with carbohydrates– which have been shown to increase cholesterol levels!
Dietary guidelines are used by doctors to make recommendations to their patients. As the 2015 Guidelines arepublished, your doctor will probably be taking a more critical look at your age, gender, race, smoking habits, blood pressure, and health conditions– NOT your egg consumption to assess your true risk for heart attack.
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