KEEPING CHOLESTEROL LEVELS DOWN: A HIDDEN THREAT
Posted: under Cardio & Blood- Сholesterol.
What if you’re one of those “lucky” people who seem to be able to eat everything from eggs Benedict to ice cream and still maintain a surprisingly low blood cholesterol level? Well, you may not be as lucky as you think. As we just learned, research shows you could still be headed for (or may already have) quite a bit of atherosclerosis anyway. Here’s the prevailing thought on why.After you’ve eaten a meal that’s high in fat, your body produces lipoprotein carriers called chylomicrons to aid in the transport of the ingested fats and cholesterol through your bloodstream. These carriers, like low-density-lipoprotein (LDL, or “bad,” cholesterol) carriers, are thought to become highly atherogenic: According to theory, once they are partially broken down and become enriched with dietary cholesterol, chylomicron remnants are able to deposit their cholesterol directly onto your arterial walls. But because chylomicrons appear only for eight to ten hours after a high-fat meal, they do not show up on a fasting cholesterol test. Even if serum cholesterol is measured four to six hours after a high-fat meal (when these chylomicron remnants are present), it will be increased only slightly.So how do you avoid the hidden threat of dietary cholesterol? The obvious answer, of course, is to watch what you eat! Remember that all the cholesterol you eat is excess, so if you don’t limit your daily cholesterol intake, anything containing cholesterol – even low-fat poultry or fish – can threaten your arteries, because eating excess cholesterol is significantly related to long-term risk of coronary heart disease – no matter what your serum cholesterol level may be. For most people, consuming no more than 100 milligrams of dietary cholesterol a day (roughly the amount found in 3 1/2 ounces of fish, lean poultry, or lean meat) is reasonably safe. And that is exactly our “prescription.”*13/345/5*
