percent of nutritionists and 70 percent of general
practitioners still believe that eating cholesterol-rich foods is
bad for the heart.^9 The authors of the survey wrote:
The big concern regarding eating cholesterol-rich foods
(e.g. eggs) is completely without foundation. There is
basically no link between the cholesterol we eat and the
level of cholesterol in our blood. This was already
known thirty years ago and has been confirmed time
and time again. Eating cholesterol-rich foods has no
negative effect on health in general or on risk of
cardiovascular diseases [CVDs], in particular.Dietary cholesterol is not, and was never, the problem
for most people. Now, even our own FDA has removed
cholesterol from the list of “nutrients of concern” in its latest
issue of Dietary Guidelines for Americans, putting the final
nail in the coffin of one of the most pervasive dietary myths
of our time.
As I’ve mentioned, the vast majority of circulating
cholesterol is made in the body, where some of it is
produced in our brains, but most of it by our livers. In fact,
by eating less cholesterol, we’re sending a signal to our
livers to create more of it. This is a phenomenon first
described by early diet-heart hypothesis detractor Dr. Pete
Ahrens, decades ago. On the other hand, the cholesterol that
we create in our bodies can be related to disease, if we don’t
keep that cholesterol healthy.
When we create cholesterol in our livers, most of it gets
shuttled throughout the body in buses. These buses are your