In the nutrition clinic I am often consulted by patients with hyperlipidemia on how to eat, and one of them, whose cholesterol was found to be high on physical examination, asked me this question: in my lipid tests I only have high cholesterol, vegetable oils do not contain cholesterol, so why can’t I eat more? It may sound logical that at a time when overnutrition is becoming a problem and everyone wants to consume less cholesterol for good health, the taste buds bloomed to find out that vegetable oils are cholesterol-free, but that’s not the case.
First of all, let’s understand the relationship between cholesterol and edible oils. Edible oils in the diet are divided into vegetable and animal oils, both of which are primarily composed of fat. Cholesterol is a lipid that is found only in animals, and plants not only do not contain cholesterol but instead contain phytosterols, the latter of which are not only harmless to humans but also act as a barrier to cholesterol absorption. Although vegetable oil does not contain cholesterol, it does not mean that it has no effect on blood lipids. Plant oil is also a fat and contains a lot of fat, and excessive fat intake will lead to obesity, which not only increases the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular burden, but also has the effect of increasing cholesterol absorption. Therefore, even cholesterol-free vegetable oils should not be consumed excessively. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016), the recommended intake of cooking oil is 25-30 grams per day.
Although cholesterol is an essential nutrient, excessive intake can cause arteriosclerosis and increase the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, people with risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, such as hypertension, high blood fat, overweight, obesity, diabetes, etc., should control their fat intake, limit high-fat and high-cholesterol foods, and avoid high-cholesterol foods as much as possible. In general, muscle (including lean pork, lean beef, lean lamb) contains low to moderate levels of cholesterol, but fatty meat is higher than lean meat, and viscera are higher. Some people mistakenly believe that meat is rich in cholesterol, both wrongly accused of lean meat also wrongly accused of their own, to know that lean meat is rich in high-quality protein, if even lean meat also quit, our health is not guaranteed. Egg yolks are undoubtedly high in cholesterol, but egg whites have almost zero cholesterol. Animal brain contains a high level of cholesterol, folk have “eat brain brain brain”, but the modern body is not a lack of cholesterol, but an excess of cholesterol, in order to supplement and eat brain food, it will do more harm than good. Bone marrow is a continuation of brain tissue, also contains high cholesterol, many people like to gnaw meat bones at the same time, but also do not forget to suck the marrow cavity of the delicious contents out, but do not know that these things contain cholesterol than fat meat is about 10 times higher.
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