Be watchful of foods you eat with saturated fat

Written by Dr Harold Gunatillake-Health writer

Some cardiologists seem to dispute this theory that saturated fats are linked to heart disease. Written by Dr harold Gunatillake-health writer Cholesterol- is a word in every one’s mouth today 75 % of cholesterol required for body functions is synthesised in the liver from
Acetyl-CoA through the HMG-CoA cycle and not from fats in your food. Only 25% comes from the food (saturated fat), we eat like eggs and dairy.

IN spite of a balance in the cholesterol levels in the blood through an inbuilt homeostatic mechanism millions of people round the world have high cholesterol levels in the blood which is considered a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. High cholesterol in your blood is not a disease, and there are no obvious symptoms to check other than on a blood sample.( Anomaly: we check the arterial blood level of cholesterol by taking blood from a vein which may not reflect the true cholesterol level for the estimation and assessment of heart disease)

Excess cholesterol floating combined with a lipo-protein to form LDL –bad cholesterol seem to accumulate in the inner lining of the arteries in primarily damaged through an inflammatory process causing atherosclerosis of blood vessels. People over the age of 40 should check their cholesterol levels in their blood or before if there is a history in the family. Consuming food with high in saturated fats and trans-fats seems to raise the level of bad cholesterol. About a third of blood cholesterol is carried by high-density lipoproteins or HDL (good cholesterol). This good cholesterol seems to remove the bad cholesterol in the blood and is destroyed in the liver. Eating unsaturated healthy fats as in olive oil may help boost the HDL cholesterol level. Some doctors believe that saturated fat does not increase the risk of a heart attack by clogging up arteries In an editorial published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine a few cardiologists do not believe that a low fat or proved to lower cholesterol diet theory to avoid heart disease, they say is “misguided”. Instead they believe that a Mediterranean-style diet and a daily walk are the best ways to prevent heart problems. (Mediterranean diet is a more vegetable diet with fish and little meat and plenty of olive oil)

The paper was co-authored by Pascal Meier, a cardiologist at University College London and the editor of the journal BMJ Open Heart and Rita Redberg, the editor of the American journal JAMA Internal Medicine and Aseem Malhotra a cardiologist at the NHS’s Lister hospital in Stevenage. These doctors have been criticised by many other experts in cardiology that there is no evidence based data to prove their findings. Dr Amitava Banrejee, a senior clinical lecturer in clinical data science and honorary consulted cardiologist at UCL, said: “Unfortunately the authors have reported evidence simplistically and selectively. They failed to cite a rigorous Cochrane systematic review which concluded that cutting down dietary saturated fat was associated with a 17% reduction in cardiovascular events, including CHD, on the basis of 15 randomised trials.” Triglyceride is another type of fat found in your blood. Excess calories of sugar and alcohol you consumed stored in your fat cells as triglycerides. High triglyceride levels may cause a syndrome called the metabolic syndrome as common among diabetics and put you at risk for heart disease. Your daily allowance of cholesterol in your food is restricted to 300mg. This means that you could enjoy cholesterol-rich foods like eggs, shrimps, and lobsters without guilt. The reason being that the dietary cholesterol you eat has only a small effect on your blood cholesterol levels for most people. An egg has about 160 mg of cholesterol- so you could enjoy two eggs a day with other fatty foods. This rule does not apply for diabetics and it is wiser that they restrict to one egg a day.

“The email that is been floating round stating that “US government has finally accepted that cholesterol is not a nutrient of concerns” is misleading and misunderstood. It is true that the cholesterol in most foods we consume may not reflect on the blood cholesterol numbers, but still the fact remains that cholesterol is a key factor and link to heart disease. When you see a nutritional label “Low in Cholesterol” check the amount of saturated fat in the contents. It is the saturated fat that is converted into bad cholesterol in
the liver.

Your morning cup of coffee can increase your blood cholesterol. So drink in small quantities. Filter drip coffee is okay as the filter catches cafestol. Cafestol, a compound found in coffee, elevated cholesterol by hijacking a receptor in an intestinal pathway critical to its regulation.

Thai foods seem to raise your cholesterol level. It is best to stick to steamed vegies rather than fried in oil, and chose chicken rather than beef. Seafood is generally okay though they have high cholesterol, but shrimp is an exception. Each shrimp has 190 milligrams of cholesterol when your daily limit is 300miligrams per day. Avoid organ meats such as liver, kidneys and sweetbreads as they all have high cholesterol numbers Avoid Indian foods cooked with ghee. Ghee is clarified butter. One tablespoon of ghee has 33 milligrams of cholesterol, and that would be 11% of the recommended daily amount.

Chicken and turkey are low cholesterol but not duck and goose even with the skin removed.

Conclusions: This article helps you to keep your heart blood circulation as clear as possible without impediments from narrowing and plaque formation which restricts the blood flow. Cholesterol is a major component in your blood stream that builds up these plaques. Always be watchful on the food you eat. Avoid foods with much saturated fat or cooked in saturated oils, and focus on good fats such as the unsaturated ones, although there are cardiologists who dispute this finding. There are other factors including genetic that predispose to heart disease. Being watchful on your saturated fat consumption helps you to reduce at least one factor.