"Any cholesterol we get from food is too much; our bodies just don't need it," according to "The New Pritikin Program." An adequate amount of cholesterol in your blood is needed because it keeps your heart, lungs, kidneys and cells functioning, The Merck Manual of Medical Information notes. However, your body manufactures all the cholesterol you need, and dietary cholesterol has "no known benefits" and many negative effects, including more harmful blood cholesterol and increased risks of heart disease and obesity, wrote Robert Pritikin.
Harmful Cholesterol
Higher total and bad cholesterol levels are associated with a higher risk of heart disease. Dietary cholesterol raises your body's total and bad cholesterol levels, although not as much as saturated fat, according to the National Cholesterol Education Program. Conversely, reducing your dietary cholesterol reduces your total and bad cholesterol levels.
The average total cholesterol level of people in nations with high cholesterol diets, such as Finland is very high, while the average total cholesterol level of people in nations with low-cholesterol diets, such as Japan, is very low. According to the 1988 book "The Well Adult," the average person in Finland is 10 times more likely to suffer a heart attack than the average person in Japan. When 208 healthy men and women in a Northwestern University Medical School study halved their dietary cholesterol, their total blood cholesterol levels dropped 5 percent in six weeks, "Controlling Cholesterol" reported.
Heart Disease
Dietary cholesterol affects your risk of heart disease regardless of whether it changed your blood cholesterol, "Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease" reports. In a 25-year study of 1,824 middle-aged men in Chicago by doctors at Northwestern University and the University of Texas, the men who ate the most dietary cholesterol were the most likely to die of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases, including strokes, concluded Dr. Jeremiah Stamler of Northwestern.
You also can lower your risk of heart disease by eating less dietary cholesterol per daily, wrote Ornish, who reported that many people who ate only 5 mg of cholesterol, the recommendation in his Reversal Diet, experienced reversals in their heart artery blockages.
Obesity
Eating large amounts of dietary cholesterol increases your risk of obesity. Dietary cholesterol is only found in animal products, including dairy, fish, meat and poultry. These foods also often contain large amounts of saturated fats, and "almost all experts now agree that it's the combined content of cholesterol and saturated fat that more accurately determines the health impact of foods," according to "The New Pritikin Program."
On the other hand, vegetarian foods don't have any cholesterol and are also often low in fat and saturated fat. Eating more low fat, low cholesterol foods, particularly foods with fiber, instead of foods high in dietary cholesterol can help you lose weight and reduce your risk of many obesity-related diseases, including colon cancer, gastrointestinal tract diseases and high blood pressure, according to "Essentials for Health and Wellness," a college textbook.
References
- "The New Pritikin Program"; Robert Pritikin; 1990
- The Merck Manual of Medical Information; 1999
- National Cholesterol Education Program: High Blood Cholesterol
- "The Well Adult"; Dr. Mike Samuels and Nancy Samuels; 1988
- "Controlling Cholesterol"; Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper; 1989
