Cholesterol ... Margarine > Butter?!

titanium feather

I saw, elsewhere, a post that contradicted many of my own beliefs about foods that are good and bad with regard to cholesterol. The post is as follows:

Most people who have high cholesterol don't have it because of what they eat (although that doesn't help) they have it because they are genetically programmed to produce more of it.

The body produces its own cholesterol because cholesterol has a function in the body, some people produce too much and as such any more that they take in from their diet (e.g. eggs, cheese, butter) is too much.

Now if you are having butter instead of margarine on every piece of bread you eat, and if you eat eggs every day as well as cheese everyday then you need to cut back a good bit on those things. Then get your cholesterol checked in a few months and see how it is. If it's still too high, cut back again.

Don't forget too that there are different types of cholesterol the so-called good and bad cholesterol. The ratio of these is important.If you have a lot of good cholesterol then that makes a big difference to the effect your high cholesterol has on your body. Ask your doctor for more advice.

Also, read this

Eating these is good for lowering cholesterol
olive oil
rapeseed oil
avocado
almonds
cashews
peanuts
pistachios
herring
mackerel
pilchards
sardines
salmon
fresh tuna
porridge
beans
lentils
fruit
vegetables

Eating these is BAD for cholesterol:
Butter
Hard cheese
Fatty meat
Red and processed meat
Biscuits
Cakes
Cream
Lard
Dripping
Suet
Ghee
Coconut oil
Palm oil

Just curious as to how much of this is true?

You should eat margarine instead of butter? And you shouldn't eat eggs as well as cheese in any one day?

What about the "good" and "bad" lists - would people agree with all items on these lists?

Appreciate any opinions!

Roger Marbles

This debate is rather undermined by the fact that high cholesterol does not cause heart disease nor is positively correlated with it either.

If you look at the work by Ravnskov, McKendrick and Colpo for example, they point to scientific literature pointing to the opposite.

Same goes for saturated fat and heart disease.

Red Cortina

From what I've read I am skeptical of the whole 'watch your cholesterol' message. Unless you have familial hypercholesterolemia, is it actually something that you should specifically look to control or is it an indicator/symptom of something else happening?

Regarding the foods that are recommended to be avoided -
Butter
Hard cheese
Fatty meat
Red and processed meat
Cream
Lard
Dripping
Suet
Ghee
Coconut oil
Palm oil

I would consider these to fall under the category of real foods and I would not be making any effort to avoid them.

I would avoid industrial food stuff though such as vegetable oil, margarine, cakes, sweets, breads, processed crap etc