In our previous article, we explained the importance of cholesterol in human health and stated that lowering blood cholesterol does not always reduce the risk of heart diseases.
In this article, we will focus on the effects of our diet on blood cholesterol levels in more detail.
The first thing to focus on is the amount of cholesterol we get from food. Reducing the cholesterol we consume can lower the cholesterol level in the blood, even if only slightly. In parallel, increasing cholesterol consumption may increase blood cholesterol levels. However, these situations do not always occur in every person. Additionally, if the amount of cholesterol we get from our diet decreases, our liver synthesizes more cholesterol and secretes it into the blood to compensate. Therefore, the net result of reducing or increasing cholesterol consumption varies greatly from person to person. As a result, restricting the amount of cholesterol taken from food is not the right choice for every individual or patient.
The cholesterol we get from food is most prominent in eggs and meat products. The effect of eggs and meat products on blood cholesterol varies greatly from individual to individual. For example, consuming one egg a day may raise cholesterol levels in one person, while consuming four eggs a day may not affect cholesterol levels in another person at all. The same applies to various meat products. Therefore, reducing or completely eliminating egg and meat consumption may not be the right step for many individuals who want to lower blood cholesterol.
Oxidized cholesterol harms cardiovascular health more than the amount of cholesterol we consume. During the processing, preparation and cooking of foods, the cholesterol molecule can be oxidized, and its consumption can cause damage to the vascular walls and initiate the process of atherosclerosis. Therefore, before consuming foods, the amount of cholesterol they contain, how processed they are, and how they are cooked should be taken into consideration. You can find more detailed information on this subject in my article on cooking foods.
Another important issue is what we get from foods. are oils. Reducing the consumption of saturated fats (e.g. butter) can slightly reduce the level of cholesterol circulating in our blood. However, this every individual does not give definitive results. There are studies showing that significantly reducing saturated fat consumption slightly reduces LDLcholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) levels. Saturated fat restriction can be tried for a while in suitable individuals to reduce cholesterol levels, and at the end of this period, blood tests can be repeated and the results can be evaluated. If the change in cholesterol level is much less than the restriction in saturated fat consumption, it may be concluded that there is no significant benefit in restricting the consumption of saturated fat in that individual.
Although the consumption of trans fats increases the cholesterol in the blood, independently of this, it also increases cardiovascular risk. It increases the risk of disease.
Consumption of unsaturated fats (e.g. olive oil) generally lowers cholesterol levels. There are two main types of unsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats (e.g. olive oil), and polyunsaturated fats (e.g. corn oil, sunflower oil). Polyunsaturated fats, just like cholesterol in foods, can be oxidized during processing and cooking and can have negative effects on cardiovascular health. Monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, are more stable and harder to oxidize. Therefore, olive oil is more advantageous in terms of cholesterol in the blood.
Although the sugars we get from foods, especially fructose (fruit sugar) and sucrose, increased the cholesterol level in the blood in some studies, they did not affect it in other studies. However, consuming too much fructose and sucrose increases insulin resistance and increases the risk of diabetes, regardless of its effect on blood cholesterol.
Increasing fiber consumption also reduces the cholesterol level in the blood. Regular consumption of fibers such as barley, oat bran, pectin found in the pulp of apples and citrus fruits reduces the level of cholesterol in the blood.
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