SAM Daily Times

Do Your Math Homework to Determine Cholesterol Content

Many people think that the cholestrol in the blood, or serum cholestrol, is affected only by the cholestrol in pure diets. While there is a relationship between the two, serum cholestrol is manufactured in the liver and is actually affected more by the saturated fat in our diets than by the cholestrol we eat. Thus,as strange as it may sound, a product labelled "low in cholestol" can still be bad for your serum cholestrol if it's high in saturated fat.
Nevertheless, dietary cholesterol still has an impact on (our) cholesterol level and should be reduced to less than 300 milligrams a day, according to the American Heart Association. That's particularly daunting for men, since the average American male consumes about 450 mg a day (as opposed to 320mg for women). Egg yolk and organ meats (liver, sweetbreads, kidney and brain) contain the most cholesterol; a single egg yolk has a cholesterol count of 213 mg a day

Excerpt from the book, "100 ways to live to 100"

Published in 2000