Elevated cholesterol levels have been the concern and the center of attention of the medical and pharmaceutical organizations for the last 50-plus years. Medications, most of which are dangerous, have been manufactured and readily prescribed, many recalled. Diets have been advised and revised. And yet, the incidence of cardiovascular disease continues to climb, affecting even children.
Americans are told to not to eat cholesterol rich food such as eggs, butter and cream, yet studies show that those who eat food containing cholesterol have low cholesterol levels.
Only 20% of the body’s cholesterol levels come from eating saturated fats like eggs, butter and cream. Eighty percent of the cholesterol comes from the production by the liver by eating refined food.
According to a study reported in The Journal of the American Medical Association, the intake of refined sugary products leads to elevated cholesterol, triglycerides and lowered HDL levels.
As triglyceride levels become elevated, the damage to the inside wall of arteries increases. This increases the risk for hypertension, mental impairment, impotence, gallstones, increased risk of blood clotting, heart disease, kidney failure, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer and other degenerative disease.
Because the refining process leaches out the natural nutrients in raw sugar, it becomes necessary for the body to draw on its own tissue nutrient stores to metabolize the sugar. The nutrient deficiency that is created causes various body functions and systems to break down.
Refined Food Causes Liver to Make its Own Saturated Fat
Sugars/carbohydrates are broken down into glucose molecules. These molecules are then processed into stored energy. When the body breaks down white sugar found in most refined food to produce energy, one of the steps is altered to create substances known as acetates.
Acetates are the building materials for the production of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids. If more acetates are produced than the body can use, the body will create more cholesterol and saturated fatty acids.
It is because refined sugars are absorbed so rapidly that the body is forced to convert them into saturated fatty acids. These saturated fats are very sticky. They cause increased clogging of arteries and blood vessels which leads to cardiovascular disease.
Saturated fatty acids also depress red blood cells that transport oxygen and make them clump together. This decreases the delivery of oxygen to important tissue such as the brain and heart and encourages the formation of blood clots.
American Heart Association Healthy Heart Diet to Help Prevent Heart Disease
The American Heart Association continues to issue revised diets to help correct the eating habits of the American people and help them to become more heart healthy.
Guidelines have improved considerably since their first diet. The most current recommendation is to eat at least 10 servings of fruit and vegetables daily; two servings of wild caught oily fish such as salmon, mackerel, cod, tuna and sardines twice a week; three servings of fiber rich whole grains per day; at least four servings of nuts, seeds and legumes per week and to limit saturated fat to 35% of the daily caloric intake.
However, based on research studies adjustments need to be made. Refined food and margarine should be omitted while eggs should be brought back into the diet. Four servings (one egg per serving) of eggs per week preferably spread out through the week.
Sources:
1. Durrington P, "Dyslipidemia". Lancet 2003
2. Uffe Ravnskov, The Cholesterol Myths: Exposing the Fallacy that Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease, New Trends Publishing, Incorporated, 2000
3. Daniel Steinberg, The Cholesterol Wars: The Cholesterol Skeptics vs the Preponderance of Evidence, Academic Press, 2007
4. National Institutes of Health, “High Blood Cholesterol: What You Need to Know”, 2008
5. United States Department of Agriculture, "USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference”, 2008
6. US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, “How to Prevent and Control Heart Disease Risk Factors” 2009
7. American Heart Association, “Healthy Dietary Goals”, 2010
Kathryn Picoulin - Dr. Kathryn Picoulin, BSN, ND, PhD received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from California State University of Chico in 1978. After ...
