Cholesterol, Unscrambled

There seems to be a whole lot of passion in response to the recent disclosure that this year's Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is recommending we stop fretting about cholesterol. Note that the committee merely advises, so these are not yet the official dietary guidelines for Americans. Famously, the politicians have the final say there. That passion over cholesterol runs in both directions, with enthusiasts of more animal food intake -- Paleo, dieters, for instance -- feeling vindicated; and my vegan friends contending that an excess of cholesterol must have scrambled the brains of the Advisory Committee members, and prevented them from thinking clearly. The timing was, depending on your point of view, fortuitous or calamitous for me, as my lab just published our third study of egg ingestion, this one showing no discernible harms from daily intake of two eggs for six weeks by adults with established coronary artery disease. In prior studies, we had shown similar lack of any discernible harm in healthy adults, and in adults with high blood cholesterol. The concurrence of these two things meant a barrage of media interviews for me, including the Today Show. I hasten to note, as others apparently have with an insinuation of impropriety, that these studies were funded by the Egg Nutrition Center. That matters far less than people think -- although there is some literature suggesting systematic bias with industry funded studies, and other literature refuting that. We mi...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news