Nutrition & Prevention

“No study published over the last 20 years has reported a relationship between dietary cholesterol intake and heart disease risk in the general populace.”


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Straightforward facts on dietary stout and shape
It’s really an elemental nutrient, and our obsession with dietary cholesterol is misguided, experts say

By David Feder Special to the Tribune

August 26, 2009

We’ve become a culture where a serving of fettuccine Alfredo is nicknamed " heart attack on a plate" and french fries are frequently mentioned with the prefix "artery-clogging."

Rarely does an article about dietary stout say us that stout is an elemental nutrient without which we would indeed die. But, for most of us, fretting over dietary stout and cholesterol is unnecessary.

For generations, experts have prescribed a set of rules for everyone based on risk factors of illness in only one segment of the populace.

"The results of cholesterol and heart disease research was not predestined to be applied to healthy people or the planet at large," said Dr. Donald McNamara, a cholesterol research scientist and director of Eggs for Shape Consulting in Laurel, Md. He compares such an approach to "prescribing the same pair of glasses to everyone."

Few experts contend that for those with cholesterol levels outside the norm, or with high risk factors for cardiovascular disease, dietary change often can be a valid intervention. But when it comes to high-stout foods such as burgers, cheese, butter and cream being liberally shunned by those bent on lowering their cholesterol intake, it’s time to lard the conversation with a modest straightforward science on dietary stout and shape.

Your body knows how to handle dietary stout, and if you’re not overweight and have no other high-risk conditions, your risk of heart disease is probably low. That means even if you occasionally eat numerous slices of pizza with a Haagen-Dazs chaser, you needn’t punish yourself with guilt and agonize. The stress will probably do more hurt than the Super Bowl special you just ate. According to Mark Anthony, nutrition science instructor at St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas, and author of "Gut Instinct: Diet’s Missing Link," analysis of the research into cholesterol and disease is bearing this out.

In 2006, scientists at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, published a comprehensive analysis of manifold studies on dietary cholesterol and serum cholesterol in the British Nutrition Foundation Nutrition Bulletin. Their conclusion was emphatic: "The thought that dietary cholesterol increases risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) by turning into blood cholesterol is compelling in much the same way that fish oil improves arthritis by lubricating our joints."

Specifically, the team prominent, "the scientific evidence to support a role for dietary cholesterol, [or the cholesterol we eat, as opposed to serum cholesterol, which is the cholesterol in our bloodstream], in CHD is relatively insubstantial in comparison with the incontrovertible link between its circulating blood relation in LDL cholesterol and CHD."

McNamara concurs: "No study published over the last 20 years has reported a relationship between dietary cholesterol intake and heart disease risk in the general populace." He also points to data from the well-known "Seven Countries Study" that analyzed subjects with the same levels of cholesterol, across different cultures. Absolute rates of heart disease varied widely. Another eye-opening marker cited by McNamara is that roughly half the incidents of heart disease occur in people with normal cholesterol.

The type of stout in your diet does matter to some degree. Trans stout, derived predominantly from highly processed oils, was shown to be more strongly associated with cardiovascular disease. It was ultimately subjected to austere labeling and voluntarily removed from thousands of foods and beverages.

But, many research studies have shown that natural stout in foods such as eggs and dairy products has no effect on the risk for cardiovascular disease. Some studies have shown a positive effect of dairy consumption on reduction of disease risk. Saturated fats from sources other than eggs and dairy, such as from meat, once were associated with increased disease risk. Later studies are proving the issue to be more complex than that. And studies of saturated fats from plants such as coconut and palm oil are revealing positive shape benefits.

Most vital, mono- and polyunsaturated fats from olive oil, nut oils and vegetable oils, and the omega oils found in fish, flax and nuts boast thousands of studies backing their benefit to shape for everything from protection against cancer, heart disease, particular birth defects, depression, cognitive decline and more.

Authors of the Harvard School of Public Shape OmniHeart Study comparing well loved diets and food intake concluded that, "in the setting of a healthful diet, partial substitution of carbohydrate [with] monounsaturated stout can further lower blood pressure, increase lipid levels and reduce estimated cardiovascular risk."

Simply place, the tie between the amount of stout we eat and the stout clogging our arteries and stopping our hearts turns out to be far more complicated than a blanket prescription of " low-stout diets for everyone" can take up.

It doesn’t negate the value of eating a balanced diet, with the majority of calories coming from fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods. But it does mean that, if we have been compelling care of ourselves by maintaining a healthy weight and staying active, we don’t have to seek penance every time we butter our toast.

David Feder is a registered dietitian and director of S/F/B Exchanges Group, a national co-operative of food, shape and nutrition experts.

ctc-goodeating@tribune.com

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