CRACKING CHOLESTEROL

What really causes your blood fats to skyrocket? Groundbreaking discoveries have delivered surprising new answers and exposed a deeper biological mystery

- by SANDRINE CEURSTEMONT

When you think of cholesterol, what's the first food that comes to mind? For many, the answer is eggs. And for good reason: their yolks contain relatively high amounts of the waxy fat found in our blood and decades-old studies warned that eating too many could send your cholesterol levels soaring.

As any doctor will tell you, that would be a very bad thing. High cholesterol raises your risk of cardiovascular disease – the world's leading cause of death – as well as stroke and dementia.

According to several recent papers, however, eggs may not deserve their bad reputation. In fact, one Australian study suggests that eating two a day could lower your levels of 'bad' low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – the kind that clogs your arteries.

“For your average person, eating a few eggs a day won't increase their cholesterol,” says Dr Nick Norwitz, a researcher at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

How could this be? Well, as emerging studies have demonstrated, dietary cholesterol – the cholesterol that's in our food – has little bearing on the LDL cholesterol in our bodies.

Instead, researchers have uncovered what really matters in your diet, and which foods actually make the biggest difference.

FAT TRUTHS

Somewhat confusingly, LDL cholesterol isn't actually all bad – your body needs some in order to function properly. It's a key component of the outer membrane of every cell, for example, and is needed to make vitamin D and certain hormones such as oestrogen and testosterone.

You don't need to get this helpful cholesterol from your diet, however. The liver makes all the cholesterol your body requires. And if you eat cholesterol-rich foods, it automatically scales back its production.