Avoiding
eggs, to supposedly keep the blood cholestrol in control, is not
recommendable: eggs are the richest source of the full complex of
amino-acids (components of proteins) that Nature delivers. Not only
this, but they are also fantastic concentrates of minerals and vitamins:
egg yolks are rich in calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6,
folate, pantothenic acid and B12.
The yolk also contains vitamins A, D and E, as well as omega-3 fatty acids. Egg yolks are also a rich source of choline (essential for brain function and CV function), and the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin that protect the eyes and lower the risk of macular degeneration. These elements make the egg the perfect complete food.
Several research publications now state that eating one or two eggs a day does not impact your Cho levels, in normal conditions (this does not apply for example to people with diabetes or people on a high carbohydrate diet or people with history of a heart attack).
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For more information on cholesterol levels, how to control them and, especially, why and ..is this necessary? check the history on 'Cholesterol, fats and cardiovascular health' on this website: http://leelawadee-silviap.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/cholesterol-control-right-fats-in-your.html
or buy it for 5 $ (4 euors) each chapter (total of 6 chapters) to receive it in your email.
....What is finally the right food to enjoy a long healthy life, i.e. to protect you from atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, infarction, heart failure and others?
The increasing rate of cardiovascular diseases of the past few decades has given a strong incentive to research in biomedicine, biochemistry, epidemiology to try to find the culprit of such a devastating raise of coronary heart diseases, strokes, heart attacks… However what is the ‘right food’ to avoid such medical conditions has been and is still a maze of different and often opposing recommendations.
Association of saturated fats to increase of serum cholesterol and this one, in turn, to cardiovascular disease has been the accepted picture, that led to dietary recommendations supporting “safe” consumption of unsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and carbohydrates, at the expenses of cholesterol-rich food and saturated fats which would be avoided like the pest!
However, now we can state that saturated fat can actually improve – and not damage - our health: saturated fats are now saved from the trash because needed by the brain and to protect us from dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. Likewise we now know better about PUFAs: of the once acclaimed health-protecting unsaturated fatty acids, the omega 6 are now feared because known to promote inflammation (including the one responsible for atherosclerosis and heart diseases) and increase many illnesses, while the omega 3 appear to be the winners, countering negative effects of other fats.
Now most (although not all) of the molecular mechanisms are better understood and the adverse effects of refined carbohydrates and PUFAs clarified. We now understand why, after saturated fats were declared demons to be avoided, in the 60s and 70s, and were replaced with PUFAs and carbohydrates in diets, we now observe an increased level of global obesity and other health complications like inflammatory diseases, and at the same time a lack of the expected decrease of cardiovascular diseases.
These confusing recommendations drove and drive many attentive eaters mad while trying to convince them every other decade that what they eat is wrong and that the new fad diet of the moment is the ‘real’ health-promoting and long-life assuring diet.
In this whole history of dietary inconsistencies and wars between good fats, bad fats, high carbohydrates versus high protein diets, the present focus on cholesterol control is another giant system of contradictory statements and misunderstood explanations.
I’ve been bathing for the past few years in studies of anatomy, physiology, physiopathology and researches or reviews of researches designed to explain the importance (necessity?) of lowering cholesterol (Cho) levels in the blood for preventing cardiovascular diseases (CVD). I’ve found many things being illogic, unexplained and harmful. I’ve seen a lot of discrepancies, contradictory research and inconclusive analysis on the matter Cho-heart.
At the same time I’ve watched people being prescribed drugs without a real knowledge of the cause of their condition, if there even is one. I’ve been following healthy people being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs almost automatically with appearance of menopause or at later age, often without need.
Thus I’ve been feeling more and more compelled to share with people what I learned by the reading of research and reviews on the connection between Cho and CVDs and on the real need and effects (expected and collateral) of the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs, as well as on the real need to avoid saturated fats.
I will try to trace what is known by biochemistry at the present day and what seems to be the logical application of such understanding to our feeding behavior, in order to help avoid the most serious and common – old and new - diseases of the 21st century society and the need to use expensive and heavily-impacting drugs.
I am a strong believer of the need of educating ourselves to understand what health is and to accept our individual responsibility to our own health, to avoid to unconsciously fall into acceptance of drugs prescriptions without understanding what they are for and how they function and what secondary effects they might cause. I hope that this story on fats will help in this process of understanding of the human body.
This reading will be presented in chapters, delivered to your e-mailbox when ordered through the web site in What we do/Lectures.
Thank you.
