For decades, cholesterol has been one of those nutrients that people have limited from their diet because of all the negative health effects they’ve heard about. The public has been told to stay away from things like eggs, cheese, meat and some seafood because of its ability to raise cholesterol, specifically in the older population. Today, the nation’s Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) has stated that cholesterol is no longer listed as a “nutrient of concern”. Many scientists and nutritionists have realized that cholesterol consumption is not as much of a concern as it is with saturated fat consumption – present in fatty meat, whole milk, processed foods and butter.
So an egg a day keeps the doctor away? No, not quite. Cholesterol is still one of those nutrients that needs to be consumed only in moderation especially if people have particular health problems like diabetes and heart disease where a low(er)-cholesterol diet is encouraged. As of today the daily recommendation for cholesterol is 300 mg/day.
Interestingly, the DGAC will soon release a 45-day comments period to the country where people can put in their two cents on how they feel about this. The federal government will then take the final report and officially deem cholesterol a “dietary guideline” for 2015, or not. If you feel divided on this, you’re not alone. Some nutritionists think this is long overdue while others believe there should still be a restriction.
Other topics being discussed at the federal level at this time? Sodium, red meat, and added sugar. The ” U.S Dietary Guidelines” are revisited and revised every 5 years and with the amount of health problems going on in the United States, there is much to be spoken about and the battles have begun. YahooHealth explains, “Draft recommendations say a healthy dietary pattern includes fewer “red and processed meats” than are currently consumed. The meat industry called the draft recommendations absurd.” No matter what ends up happening with this years guidelines, there are going to be people that are happy about it and not so happy about it. So, where do you stand?
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How do you feel about the changes in cholesterol recommendations? Any other dietary guidelines or changes you would like to see implemented?
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