Tuesday Nov 1, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- An early study in CAB Direct has found men and women who need to control their cholesterol if they have prior heart conditions should avoid eating foods with cholesterol such as eggs and fish oils.

The study led by J. M. R. Beveridge and colleagues showed that the more cholesterol a person ate, the higher cholesterol showed up in his blood.  Exactly, eating 13 mg of cholesterol per day increased the serum cholesterol level to 25.3 mg per 100 ml.

For the study, 75 men and 18 women were given a fat-free diet consisting of dried skimmed milk, calcium caseinate, maltose, sucrose, dextrins and vitamins for eight days.  Then they were divided into eight groups with each group having a similar level of serum cholesterol and continued for eight days eating the same fat free diet supplemented with different amounts of cholesterol in butter oil ranging from 25 to 1600 mg per 950 kcal for seven groups while the eighth group served as controls

On day eight and day 4, participants on the fat free diet had the same levels of serum cholesterol.  With intake of cholesterol at 13 mg per day, serum cholesterol level increased by 25.3 mg per 100 ml.  Those supplemented with 634 mg per day experienced an increase of 41.9 mg per 100 ml.   The highest increase 71.7 mg per 100 ml was seen among those who had intake of 2494 mg cholesterol.

The researchers wrote "The results indicate that the presence of cholesterol in the diet of non-vegetarians undoubtedly accounts for at least part of the difference in serum cholesterol levels between them and vegetarians."

Foods with high cholesterol include egg yolks (1085 mg/100 grams), caviar (588 mg/100 grams), menhaden fish oil (521 mg /100 grams), eggs (372 mg /100 grams about 2 eggs), butter (250 mg/100 grams), oyster (206 mg/100 grams), lobster (200 mg/100 grams), heavy whipping cream (137 mg /100 grams), crab meat (127 mg/100 grams), shrimp (125 mg/100 grams), cream cheese (110 mg/100 grams), and yellow cheese (108 mg/100 grams).  Note that plant-derived foods do not contain any cholesterol.

Men and women who have some heart condition and still love eating meat, seafood, eggs and dairy products need to watch their serum cholesterol levels.   Statins are very powerful medications that can effectively lower serum cholesterol, which is linked to heart disease, although researchers have claimed that for healthy people, taking statins to reduce the risk of heart disease is not cost-effective.  Also statins can cause adverse effects including muscle pain.

Some dietary supplements can be very effective including red yeast rice, which studies found as effective as statins in lowering cholesterol.   Also spirulina can also help lower cholesterol.  (David Liu, PHD)