Older people are afraid of cholesterol. They feel as if every time they take a bite, cholesterol will stick directly to the inner wall of blood vessels. However, there are also some completely different opinions circulating on the Internet:

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture is responsible for updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years. In its latest Dietary Guidelines in 2015, it wrote: ‘For a long time, we have recommended Residents' daily cholesterol intake should not exceed 300 mg. This year, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) will no longer limit residents' cholesterol intake because current evidence shows that there is no obvious correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood lipids. ."

Experts emphasized:

"There is no difference between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Cholesterol does not cause any obstruction in our body. Please update it. The facts about cholesterol are widely publicized.”

After reading this passage, we got the following 3 important messages:

○ There is no need to limit cholesterol intake, dietary cholesterol. It has nothing to do with blood lipids;

○?There is no difference between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol;

○?Cholesterol will not cause any obstruction in our body .

Are these statements true? Let’s first briefly understand what cholesterol is.

What is cholesterol for?

Cholesterol is very important for all animals (including humans of course). First, it participates in the formation of cell membranes and is essential in structuring cells. Secondly, cholesterol is also the raw material for the synthesis of bile acids (the main component of bile), vitamin D, and steroid hormones.

Cholesterol molecular structure diagram

The human body needs about 1,000 mg of cholesterol every day, and dietary intake accounts for about 20% to 30%. The rest needs to be synthesized independently by the liver. It is not good to have high or low cholesterol levels in the human body. It may indicate liver problems or other health risks:

Too much cholesterol in the body will adhere to the inner walls of blood vessels, which over time will hinder the health of the body. Blood flow may lead to the formation of blood clots in severe cases, leading to cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, heart disease, etc.

Low cholesterol in the body can cause hemorrhagic stroke, depression and other problems.

Therefore, the less cholesterol in the human body, the better.

"There is no need to limit cholesterol intake. There is no relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood lipids"? Correct

As mentioned before, under a normal diet, people consume cholesterol from food every day It is less than what the human body needs, and most of it needs to be synthesized by the human body. Therefore, it is impossible to "reduce the total cholesterol content of the body by eating less cholesterol".

In addition, the human body has its own mechanism for synthesizing cholesterol. After fat enters the human body, only a very small part of the cholesterol will be absorbed, and most of it will enter the tricarboxylic acid cycle. The body will then use the products of the tricarboxylic acid cycle to resynthesize cholesterol through the liver.

The process of cholesterol synthesis in the liver

In other words, the human body is like a big factory. It breaks down all the fats taken in from the outside into small parts, and then assembles the parts according to its own needs. into new substances. Therefore, if you want to control the body's total cholesterol level, simply eating less cholesterol is useless.

This is why "there is no significant correlation between dietary cholesterol and blood lipids."

"There is no difference between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol"? Wrong

Cholesterol is not soluble in water and must be combined with lipoproteins to be carried in the blood in the body run.

If cholesterol is "goods", then lipoprotein is "car", and low-density lipoprotein and high-density lipoprotein are two different cars:

Low-density lipoprotein HDL transports cholesterol to the arteries, where it is removed from the body through the liver and eventually eliminated from the body.

If there is too much more low-density lipoprotein than high-density lipoprotein, it is equivalent to hoarding too much goods that cannot be used up or removed, so cholesterol will accumulate on the blood vessel walls, forming We often hear about "atherosclerosis".

"Cholesterol does not cause any blockage in our body"? Wrong

As mentioned above, too much inventory, which is piled up in the "warehouse" blood vessels, will cause In atherosclerosis, if left unchecked, the accumulation of cholesterol may form blood clots, causing blood vessel blockage.

Cholesterol continues to accumulate in the blood vessel wall (1-3), eventually blocking the blood vessel (4) or falling off the blood vessel wall to form a thrombus (5)

It seems that it can clear the blood vessel wall Wouldn’t the more high-density lipoproteins that contain cholesterol, the better? Not so.

Cholesterol is involved in the formation of cell membranes. Too high a concentration of high-density lipoprotein will transport too much cholesterol, which will inevitably lead to damage to the cell structure. At the same time, it will increase the burden of fat metabolism on the liver and may cause fat loss in liver cells. Degeneration, causing liver damage.

What should we pay attention to in our daily diet in the future?

There are many reasons for abnormal cholesterol metabolism in the human body, including genetic genes, lifestyle patterns, eating habits, etc. From a dietary perspective, simply limiting cholesterol intake is of little significance. More attention should be paid to the total amount and proportion of the diet.

Of course, there are many high-fat foods that are also foods with high cholesterol content, such as animal offal, fat, egg yolk, etc. Even if cholesterol is not considered, according to modern people's eating habits, they should eat less.

The cholesterol content of animal offal is very high

In the final analysis, there is no need to be afraid of cholesterol when it comes to mentioning it. You don’t dare to eat more eggs, and you don’t need to feel deceived by cholesterol because Americans have changed their words. no longer care about its existence.

As the old saying goes, a scientific and reasonable diet is the guarantee of health. Mr. Tadpole once again recommends to everyone the Pagoda of Balanced Diet for Chinese Residents.

Conclusion

The cholesterol you eat has minimal impact on the total cholesterol content of your body. If you want to maintain normal cholesterol levels in your body, you must start with a scientific and reasonable diet.

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Source: Tadpole Staff