The Truth About Fat by Anthony Warner

Author:Anthony Warner [Warner, Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786075147
Publisher: Oneworld Publications

CHOLESTEROL

Perhaps the second great misstep that nutrition science made when it comes to fat regards cholesterol. In 1984, Time magazine carried the headline ‘Cholesterol is Proved Deadly – and our diet may never be the same again’ in response to a major US government investigation into the effect of blood cholesterol on the development of heart disease. The project director of the study, Basil Rifkind, was quoted as saying that ‘the more you lower cholesterol and fat in your diet, the more you reduce your risk of heart disease’. This news created a seismic shift in the advice being given out about food and health.

The Time article suggested that you would ‘never look at an egg or a steak in the same way again’. There was a particular focus on eggs, something that until then had been thought of as wholesome and nutrient packed, because egg yolks contain large quantities of cholesterol. Egg consumption was strongly implicated as a major cause of CVD, and along with other cholesterol rich foods they were demonised as being profoundly unhealthy.

Looking back, this was a great shame for the humble egg, especially given what a cost-effective and widely eaten food it was. Some go as far as suggesting that the demonisation of eggs led to significant shifts in dietary patterns, particularly when it came to breakfast. As foods containing supposedly artery clogging cholesterol were roundly vilified, breakfast cereals rose to prominence, often full of sugar and starchy carbohydrates. In shaming one food as a dietary evil, many think that a greater problem was created, as people lurched from one unbalanced diet to another. And to make matters worse, it turned out that cholesterol was not quite the villain it had been made out to be.

It has long been known that cholesterol is a hugely important molecule, with many vital functions in the body. It helps form cell membranes, regulates hormones, and is heavily involved in digestion. It is true that aberrant blood cholesterol levels are linked to people’s risk of CVD, but the implication that this was largely driven by cholesterol in people’s diets was sadly mistaken. It was a leap taken by researchers and nutritional authorities at the time, partly because it seemed obvious that you are what you eat.

At this stage it would be great to say that dietary cholesterol has been completely vindicated, and we can all eat a carton of eggs a day. That would be the simple message that everyone wants to hear, with eggs going from zero all the way back to hero, and being carried (carefully) through town to a tickertape parade. In reality, the extent to which dietary cholesterol affects blood cholesterol varies from person to person, dependent upon how good our body is at regulating production in response to intake. For most people, when we eat foods high in cholesterol, our body quickly shuts down its own production, regulating how much is circulating in the bloodstream. But for others with less efficient control mechanisms, too many eggs might still cause a problem.

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