Dr Emma Derbyshire
It
was recently National Cholesterol Month and while health campaigns are
effective at raising awareness and educating people about particular
conditions, cholesterol is one area that can lead people feeling a little
confused – especially with differing views on what has an impact on cholesterol
levels.
Quite
often this advice paints red meat as a villain and more often than not includes
guidance on reducing red meat intake.
Firstly, cholesterol is a lipid and a sterol,
so is used to make steroid hormones, along with the all-important vitamin D and
bile salts that aid the digestion of fat. While there may be concerns over the
amount of cholesterol that we ‘eat’, we also actually make cholesterol in the
body itself with the liver producing about 1,000mg per day.
There
are a multitude of life factors that impact on blood cholesterol levels, such
as smoking, which increases levels, while active lifestyles reduce blood
cholesterol levels[1].
Also, genetic conditions such as hypercholesterolemia can lead to
cholesterol being present in naturally high amounts in the bloodstream.
Foods
themselves can be a source of cholesterol with kidneys,
eggs and prawns often being named as forerunners.
In
terms of red meat, many
studies quoted in advice and the media have include meat pastries within their
analysis rather than looking at lean cuts of meat, so it is the saturated fat
content of the pastries that could be influencing blood cholesterol levels
rather than the meat itself.
Meat and meat products make a significant
contribution to intakes of iron, zinc, selenium, vitamin D and B vitamins. So, cutting out red meat for fear of ingesting
cholesterol, could actually be at the detriment of several important nutrients.
Hence,
it can be seen that a combination of factors can impact on cholesterol
levels. This is important to bear in mind
when interpreting findings from studies looking at trends between foods such as
red meat and cholesterol levels, as these factors often act as confounders,
skewing results.
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