With heart disease reaching near epidemic proportions in the U.S., health care professionals are urging patients to reduce their risk factors through exercise and a diet low in cholesterol and saturated fats. In 2001, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute issued cholesterol guidelines in the form of a Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes diet that recommends keeping your daily cholesterol intake below 200 mg. Although some seafood products, including shrimp, contain significant amounts of cholesterol, clams are considerably lower in cholesterol.
The Basics
Cholesterol is a wax-like substance produced by clams, humans and other animals. Your body produces about 75 percent of the cholesterol you need to build healthy cells, produce vitamin D and hormones and regulate other functions. The remaining 25 percent comes from the animal foods you eat each day. If you take in more cholesterol than your body needs for essential functions, the excess cholesterol stays in your bloodstream and increases your risk of developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, heart attacks and strokes.
Cholesterol Content
The NHLBL recommends keeping your daily cholesterol intake below 200 mg. A single serving of clams, or about 12 small clams, contains 80 mg of cholesterol, which represents about 40 percent of your daily limit -- a moderate amount of cholesterol. To put this amount in perspective, consider that a large egg has 186 mg of cholesterol, half a roast chicken breast delivers 82 mg and a 3 oz. hamburger made with 80 percent lean beef has 77 mg.
Condiments
It's easy to go overboard on condiments for your steamed clams, but wise choices can limit the added cholesterol. Lemon juice, wine and garlic are all cholesterol-free, so you can comfortably add those to the clam broth. However, butter contains 31 mg of cholesterol in a single tablespoon. Adding 3 tbsp. of melted butter to your dozen steamed clams raises the total cholesterol content to 173 mg, or about 87 percent of the daily recommended limit.
Misconceptions
Although many people believe fried clams are higher in cholesterol than steamed clams, the difference is minimal. A 3/4 cup serving of breaded and fried clams from a fast food restaurant contains 87 mg of cholesterol, only 7 mg more than the steamed version. Since cholesterol is an animal product, the wheat flour used to coat the fried clams is cholesterol-free and brings down the overall cholesterol count. If you add 3 tbsp. of melted butter to your steamed clams, however, your entrée of a dozen steamed clams contains twice as much cholesterol as the serving of fried clams.
