Are You Eating Too Much Cholesterol?

August 4, 2009

I was vegan for a short time in college, and was shocked when I had my cholesterol tested and found it was high. I wasn't even eating cholesterol! The thing is, your liver makes cholesterol and it's actually essential for your body to function normally. Cholesterol is also found in food and appropriately called dietary cholesterol. Since your body produces enough, you don't need to worry about getting any from diet. What you do need to worry about is getting too much.

A healthy person with healthy cholesterol levels can safely consume 300 milligrams a day. If your levels are high, aim for less than 200 mg a day. Are you eating too much? Find out how much cholesterol is in your favorite foods when you read more.

Food	Cholesterol (mg)
1 Hard-Boiled Egg	212
1 cup Skim Milk	5
1 cup Lowfat Milk (1%)	15
1 cup Lowfat Milk (2%)	20
1 cup Whole Milk	34
1 oz. Cheddar Cheese (1 slice)	29
1/4 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese	20
2 tbsp. Cream Cheese	26
2 tbsp. Butter	61
5.3 oz. Fage Total Classic Greek Yogurt	35
5.3 oz. Fage Total With Honey	20
6 oz. Chobani No-Fat Vanilla Greek Yogurt	0
6 oz. Stonyfield farms Organic Low-Fat Vanilla Yogurt	7
1/3 Pound Hamburger Patty	90
5 inch Hot Dog	24
4 oz. Filet Mignon	75
4 oz. Organic Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast	70
4 oz. Tilapia	55
3 oz. Salmon	85
2 tbsp. Mayonnaise	8
3 oz. Sour Cream	11
1/2 cup Chocolate Ice Cream	120
1/2 cup Chocolate Ice Cream	115
9 Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses	5

High cholesterol levels in the blood can put you at risk for heart disease. So answer these two questions for me: have you had your cholesterol levels tested, and are you getting too much?

Source: Getty

17 Comments

solideogratia 3 years 40 weeks

Cholesterol (or more specifically heart disease) has nothing to do with the intake of cholesterol or saturated fat, but rather from processed fats and refined carbohydrates. As a former vegetarian who used to have high cholesterol, I have to say: eat more beef!

Giasbash6260 3 years 40 weeks

WTF This is wrong! Eating Cholesterol doesn't increase your cholesterol! Eating trans fatty acids & saturated fats are what cause high cholesterol!!!

poptart princess 3 years 41 weeks

probably. as well as salt, caffeine, refined sugar and white flour.

3 years 41 weeks

PEOPLE! Cholesterol nor sat fat are bad for you! It's the carbs that raise insulin levels, lead to inflammation, and raise cholesterol. Do some research.

cg130 3 years 41 weeks

Eep, I used to eat two hard-boiled eggs for breakfast!

Spectra 3 years 41 weeks

Dietary cholesterol has very little to do with blood cholesterol levels...your daily saturated fat intake is a lot more important in controling your blood cholesterol. Incidentally, I eat very little saturated fat OR cholesterol and my blood cholesterol numbers show a total cholesterol of 150 with an HDL of 75 and triglycerides of 53, so I think I'm ok on that end of things. Incidentally, some people do have genetically high cholesterol and can't lower it with diet and exercise...my grandpa had it and so does my dad. You need statins in order to control it.

filmgirl81 3 years 41 weeks

I eat eggs every day, and tons of cheese on a regular basis. My cholesterol is the best my doctor has ever seen, next to my mother's. It's all genetics.

3 years 41 weeks

Dietary cholesterol does not impact your blood cholesterol levels. This is a very outdated point of view. If you want to educate yourself, I suggest the book Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

Soniabonya 3 years 41 weeks

whew. i was ready to fall over. I had a hard boiled egg this morning. . . and i have no idea where my cholesterol stands.

3 years 41 weeks

I've actually read that the body compensationally makes cholesterol. As in, an average sized person's body needs 1,400 milligrams of cholesterol per day, so if you eat 3 eggs and get roughly 850 mg of cholesterol from that your body only needs to produce 550 mg, which it will do automatically. You can check the cholesterol post on Marksdailyapple.com for the references on that, but I think it's close.

darc5204 3 years 41 weeks

The anonymous commenter and kkatt are exactly right. It's not understood how dietary cholesterol relates to blood cholesterol. For instance, studies have shown that eating a lot of eggs doesn't raise cholesterol in most people.

kkatt 3 years 41 weeks

raeofsunshine - unlucky for you, genetics play more of a factor on one's cholesterol levels than dietary intake...

3 years 41 weeks

according to that i should be having a heart attack in 3...2...1...(kidding) but seriously, those measurements are not indicative of what your cholesterol is going to be. 213 mg of cholesterol in an egg isn't the same as 213 mg of cholesterol in deep fried foods. you should know better, fit, than to put information forth that's not fully accurate. from the mayo clinic "However, the extent to which dietary cholesterol raises blood cholesterol levels isn't clear. Many scientists believe that saturated fats and trans fats have a greater impact than does dietary cholesterol in raising blood cholesterol."

raeofsunshine 3 years 41 weeks

O and I forgot to mention...I only eat the whites of eggs!

raeofsunshine 3 years 41 weeks

I'm a 24 year old ovo-lacto-vegetarian runner and I have higher cholesterol (TC 194) and a body fat index of 15%. I was told to stop eating meat (I haven't touched it in years). I was told to exercise more (I run 20+ miles a week). I was told to take fish oil (sorry fish are critters too). So I'm stuck...I'm too young to take medication so I'll be increasing my fiber intake and switching my cheese and ice cream for vegan alternatives. Let's hope it works!

Yogaforlife 3 years 41 weeks

My annual blood work always comes back great...I'm as healthy as a horse! Fit - do you know the latest on whether the cholesterol ratios (Total/HDL and LDL/HDL) still matter at all? I am seeing conflicting arguments about them as indicators of health.

weffie 3 years 41 weeks

in case anyone's curious, soy milk has no cholesterol.

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17 Comments

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