{"id":783,"date":"2018-01-08T12:36:37","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T12:36:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insulean.co.uk\/?p=783"},"modified":"2018-11-21T10:36:06","modified_gmt":"2018-11-21T10:36:06","slug":"eggs-cracking-cholesterol-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.insulean.co.uk\/eggs-cracking-cholesterol-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"EGGS | Cracking Cholesterol | Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In this second part of the cholesterol series, I describe just how important it is and why you should not worry about eating eggs.<\/span><\/h6>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">An Utterly Essential Nutrient<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The liver is central to the regulation of cholesterol levels in the body, producing 75% of it. The other 25% comes from our diet. Your liver not only makes most of the cholesterol circulating in your blood, but it adjusts for what you ingest \u2013 a process called homeostasis (keeping important things at a constant level). Your body makes all the cholesterol you need. Nothing is left to chance. This is the main reason why your diet does not determine blood cholesterol levels. If you eat more, your liver will synthesise (make) less \u2013 and vice versa. Studies have shown that people fed up to 10 eggs a day kept their cholesterol levels constant.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Cholesterol is an utterly essential nutrient. Without it, we would die instantly.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">However, there are some exceptions. In some people, high cholesterol foods do cause a rise in blood levels. These individuals are known as &#8216;hyper-responders&#8217; and they have a\u00a0<a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/11737237\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">genetic<\/span><\/a> variant. Importantly, despite dietary cholesterol causing a moderate increase in LDL (low-density lipoprotein) in this population, it does not seem to increase their risk of heart disease. I discuss &#8216;hyper-responders&#8217; in some detail in this <a style=\"color: #000000;\" href=\"http:\/\/insulean.co.uk\/cholesterol-obsession-part-2\/\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">article<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is not a fat. It is a high molecular weight sterol \u2013 subgroup of the steroids and an important class of organic molecules. Sterols are fat soluble. It is one of the most important chemicals in our bodies.\u00a0It is only found in animal foods and is an essential ingredient for life, involved in a myriad of important functions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is used as a raw material for the healing process when an injury is detected in the body. This is why cholesterol, calcium and several other molecules are found in scar tissue \u2013\u00a0 including an injured artery. When cholesterol was observed within the plaque that blocks arteries causing heart attacks, it was assumed to be responsible for causing heart disease. This is as ignorant as blaming the fireman for causing a fire. It is there to help. To repair. It did not cause the injury in the first place. We\u2019ve confused effect with cause.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is vital for normal brain and nerve function and is found in large amounts in brain tissue. The brain requires over 25% of the body\u2019s cholesterol. The nervous system uses huge quantities for insulation, protection, and structure (myelin).<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is found in large amounts of breast milk. Babies need plenty of cholesterol for proper brain development. Infant formulas have, worryingly, been manufactured without cholesterol due to the aforementioned confounding fears.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Stress hormones and sex hormones (such as oestrogen and testosterone) are made from cholesterol as is Vitamin D which is made from cholesterol in the skin<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It is converted into bile salts in the liver, which are needed to break down and absorb fats \u2013 and in turn, fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, four very important vitamins.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Raised cholesterol levels are common in periods of prolonged stress, in response to chronic infection, if you are injured, pregnant or recovering from an operation. Ask yourself this. Can cholesterol \u00a0\u2013 a chemical that your body makes all day every day, one that\u00a0you would die instantly without \u2013\u00a0be dangerous and deadly?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Great Cholesterol Con<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Malcolm Kendrick, a GP, researcher and author of <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><a style=\"color: #000080;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/gp\/product\/1844546101\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1634&amp;creative=6738&amp;creativeASIN=1844546101&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=insuleannammb-21&amp;linkId=1f36904e6da3d560e8a0a9acd255e2c7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Great Cholesterol Con<\/a><\/span>\u00a0is a well known \u2018diet-heart-cholesterol theory\u2019 skeptic. In his book, he presents an astonishing weight of evidence to debunk this myth. He and many other skeptics, continue to be shamed and ostracised for their stance by the mainstream scientific community. Dr. Kendrick\u2019s book is well researched, witty and pretty convincing. I would recommend it to anyone who is on a Statin \u2013 a cholesterol-lowering drug. These drugs are hailed as \u2018wonder drugs\u2019 but their benefits have been highly exaggerated. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Another revelation is that\u00a0most of the studies that drove the guidelines \u2013 and the information around statin prescription \u2013 were industry-sponsored studies. This has driven a multi-trillion dollar industry and it\u2019s difficult to comprehend such a blatant conflict of interest.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I cannot give individual advice but would urge you to do your research and make informed decisions as to what is best for you. This book is a good start.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1975\" style=\"width: 570px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1975\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1975\" src=\"http:\/\/insulean.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/EGGS-INSULEAN.png\" alt=\"EGGS | INSULEAN\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.insulean.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/EGGS-INSULEAN.png 560w, https:\/\/www.insulean.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/EGGS-INSULEAN-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1975\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">EGGS | INSULEAN<\/p><\/div>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Eggs | A Nutrition Powerhouse<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Eggs are a low-cost nutrition powerhouse with 14 essential nutrients, naturally rich in Vitamin D, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B12, Iodine, Selenium, and high-quality protein. Egg yolk fat is about 46% oleic acid, an omega-9 monounsaturated fat commonly found in olive oil, 38% saturated fat, and 16% polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs). The PUFA ratio depends on how the chickens were raised. Chickens that are pasture-fed or fed with a special omega-3 diet will have a more balanced PUFA ratio. Some research suggests that it isn\u2019t just the amount of heart-healthy\u00a0omega-3\u00a0fats you consume, but their proportion to omega-6, that\u2019s important to your health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Take Action<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Eat your eggs \u2013 free of worry or guilt. Preferably choose pasture-raised organic eggs. There is no need, whatsoever, to avoid liver, meat, fish, eggs or dairy products for any cholesterol that they may contain. Enjoy these natural, highly nutritious foods freely.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Avoid low-fat products. When you see \u2018low-fat\u2019, think \u2018high-sugar\u2019 (or artificial sweeteners). There is no evidence that natural (real) fats cause heart disease. What you should be avoiding is excessive sugars and processed, refined carbohydrates (fast food, pastries, cakes, biscuits, donuts) which are energy-dense, nutrient-poor and manufactured with highly processed unnatural oils.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ignore the fake food industry. Their duty is to their shareholders, not to you. Think farm. Not factory.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Eat Real Food.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; In this second part of the cholesterol series, I describe just how important it is and why you should not worry about eating eggs. &nbsp; An Utterly Essential Nutrient The liver is central to the regulation of cholesterol levels in the body, producing 75% of it. The other 25% comes from our diet. Your liver not only makes most [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":759,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[33,107],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EGGS | Cracking Cholesterol - An Utterly Vital Nutrient - Part 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this second part of the cholesterol series, I describe just how important cholesterol is and why you should not worry about eating eggs.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.insulean.co.uk\/eggs-cracking-cholesterol-part-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EGGS | Cracking Cholesterol - 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