Re: Carbs and Cholesterol.

"Juhana Harju" <shantigiriorama@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in part:

Jim Chinnis wrote:

: Let's not dance. Excess calories will raise cholesterol. If we talk
: in terms of isocaloric substitutions, the point I keep trying to make
: against your opposition is that one who is concerned about high
: cholesterol and who is apparently eliminating eggs to reduce his
: cholesterol, and who has asked now whether a high carbohydrate diet
: can increase cholesterol, should be told that, yes, a high-carb diet
: can increase cholesterol. Even an isocaloric one can do so.

If carbs in itself were the issue then vegetarians and vegans would have
high cholesterol as their average diet is high in carbs. However, their
cholesterol values are clearly lower than those of meat eaters
(http://tinyurl.com/mwcvl). So I think that both excess calories and excess
refined carbohydrates are the real culprits, not carbohydrates themselves.

It's not possible to say that vegetarians differ from meat eaters (lower
cholesterol) and attribute it to their supposed higher carbohydrate intake.
Their diets differ in innumerable ways. A randomized trial is needed.

Still I admit that cholesterol can be reduced by replacing some
carbohydrates with unsaturated oils.

I have seen a randomized trial (small) years ago and can't find it now,
where isocaloric changes were made among carbs and varous fats and protein,
and lipids measured. As I recall, trans fats were the biggest booster of
cholesterol, but carbs beat both (non trans) fats and protein. The results
of course only apply to the particular mixes of foods making up the diets,
so any results are only suggestive of any general pattern.

From all my reading, I've come to think that the carbohydrates--as typically
consumed in a Western diet--may be more to blame for high cholesterol
readings than are fats (exclusive of trans-fat, but maybe even including sat
fat) or protein. Carbohydrates in Western diets do tend to be highly starchy
and refined.
--
Jim Chinnis Warrenton, Virginia, USA
.

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