pan@ucbmars (08/04/85)
From: pan@ucbmars (W.-C. Pan) In article <583@psivax.UUCP> Stanley Friesen writes: > 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. Just to clear up a few points: High and low density lipo-proteins are not types of cholesterol. Cholesterol is the name of a particular compound. High and low density lipo-proteins are conglomerates of proteins, lipids and lipid soluble compounds (like cholesterol) that are made in your body. HDL's and LDL's function to transport lipids and such compounds through your blood stream. The composition of HDL's and LDL's and their ratio does depend at least in part on the type and amount of fats you eat. So, there are two problems with the above statement. First, there are not different types of cholosterol, and there is no such ratio of types in anything we eat. Second, even determining the ratio of HDL's to LDL's in food would not be useful for predicting the ratio of these in ones blood (which is the significant factor with regard to health). By the way, plants do not contain cholesterol. Claire Wyman ucbvax!molbio!xanadu