sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (08/03/85)
> And as for the cholesterol, maybe there is no "concensus" > because the danger isn't quite as bad as you think! Recent research > has shown that there are two types of cholesterol(High density > Lipo-protein and Low density Lipo-protein), and the significant > factor with regard to health is the *ratio* of the two types, *not* > the absolute quantity consumed! So, in order to evaluate the danger > of some food you must check the ratio of cholesterol types. This is > not as easy to do as measuring total cholesterol content. Let's remember the difference between EXOGENOUS cholesterol, that found in the diet, and ENDOGENOUS lipid fractions, including cholesterol, HDL's and LDL's, circulating in the blood stream. I am sure that the digestive system does not distinguish between the various classes of lipoproteins in foods as it gleefully attacks them with acids and enzymes, reducing them all to their simple constituent components. It is meaningless to refer to HDL's or LDL's or their ratios in foods as being "beneficial" or "harmful" to human health, because during digestion they all turn into various amounts of cholesterol, fatty acids, amino acids and glycerol, quite uncharacterizable as high-density or low-density anything. It is the ratio of lipid fractions found in the blood of real live people which appears to matter. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA
friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) (08/06/85)
In article <261@bbncc5.UUCP> sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) writes: > >Let's remember the difference between EXOGENOUS cholesterol, that found in >the diet, and ENDOGENOUS lipid fractions, including cholesterol, HDL's and >LDL's, circulating in the blood stream. > It is meaningless to refer to >HDL's or LDL's or their ratios in foods as being "beneficial" or "harmful" >to human health, because during digestion they all turn into various >amounts of cholesterol, fatty acids, amino acids and glycerol, quite >uncharacterizable as high-density or low-density anything. It is the ratio >of lipid fractions found in the blood of real live people which appears to >matter. >-- Quite correct, I had forgotten this aspect of the situation. However, I do seem to remember that diet does have some impact on the HDL/LDL ratio in the blood, and that *amount* of cholesterol in the diet was *not* the most significant factor. However, my memory on this is rather vague. -- Sarima (Stanley Friesen) {trwrb|allegra|cbosgd|hplabs|ihnp4|aero!uscvax!akgua}!sdcrdcf!psivax!friesen or {ttdica|quad1|bellcore|scgvaxd}!psivax!friesen