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Egg Cholesterol in the Diet

Cardiology experts warn that eating even a single egg a day may exceed the safe upper limit for cholesterol intake.

August 31, 2011 |
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Supplementary Info

Egg Cholesterol in the Diet, 5.0 out of 5 based on 3 ratings

Sources Cited

Spence JD, Jenkins DJ, Davignon. Dietary cholesterol and egg yolks: not for patients at risk of vascular disease. J. Can J Cardiol. 2010 Nov;26(9):e336-9.

Spence JD, Jenkins DJ, Davignon. Reply to Letters from Dr Maria Luz Fernandez, Eddie Vos, and Dr Niva Shapira. Can J Cardiol. 2011 Mar-Apr;27(2): 264.e7-8.

Acknowledgements

Image thanks to Andreas.

Transcript

The egg industry got their  juevos handed to them last Fall in a devastating review published in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology by three academic heavy hitters.  David Spence is the Director of the Stroke Prevention & Atherosclerosis Research Centre;  David Jenkins the guy who invented the glycemic index, and  Dr. Davignon, the Director of the Hyperlipidemia and Atherosclerosis at the Institute for Clinical Research status

 The last time Dr. Spence spoke out publically against eggs, his house got its cholesterol raised too,  but reason they felt the need to set the record straight is that “recent media reports reflect the remarkable effectiveness of the sustained propaganda campaign of the egg producer’s lobby to downplay the risk of cholesterol.

The fundamental flaw of the studies the egg industry uses to muddy the waters on the issue is that they tend to only measure fasting cholesterol levels,  which just reflects what’s happening to your arteries for the last few hours of the night, not after you’ve eaten breakfast. Not only do eggs make your bad cholesterol go up,  but for hours after you eat, “dietary cholesterol increases the susceptibility of LDL to oxidize, vascular inflammation, oxidative stress, and postprandial hyperlipemia and potentiates the harmful effects of saturated fat, impairs endothelial function, and increases cardiovascular events, meaning heart attacks.

Dietary cholesterol may only increase our fasting cholesterol levels 10%,  but it may increase the susceptibility of our LDL to oxidize by 37-39%, and that’s what triggers much of the arterial inflammation.

So maybe an omelet might not be good, but how much dietary cholesterol is in just like one egg? “A single egg yolk contains approximately 215 mg to 275 mg of cholesterol (depending on the size). The yolk of a large egg provides more than the 210 mg of cholesterol in a  Hardee’s Monster Thickburger, which contains two-thirds of a pound of beef, three slices of cheese and four strips of bacon.  The media storm that followed compared an egg to the fast food monstrosity du jour, the KFC double down, where even the  bun is made out of meat.  What came worst: the chicken or the egg?

 “”A single egg yolk… thus exceeds the recommended daily intake of cholesterol. So you could eat just like celery the whole rest of the day and you’d still be over the limit.

 Despite the harassment he's gotten, he remains unperturbed. He said yolks shouldn't be regarded as an item that's suitable for human diets" for anyone at risk of vascular disease. "And you name me one person that isn't."

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by Dianne Moore.

To help out on the site please email volunteer@nutritionfacts.org

Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Don't miss Avoiding cholesterol is a no brainer and Egg industry blind spot for more misleading claims from the egg industry.

For even more context, check out my associated blog posts: Bad Egg and Stool Size and Breast Cancer Risk.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Check out my blog post “Bad Egg” to help put egg consumption in context, and don’t miss
    Avoiding cholesterol is a no brainer and Egg industry blind spot for more misleading claims from the egg industry.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/BenjaminStone/ Benjamin Stone

    (I posted this on the blog page relevant to this video, sorry for the duplication)

    Not all eggs are created equal.

    I had bookmarked from when I used to eat eggs this very interesting article on Mother Earth News:

    http://www.motherearthnews.com/eggs.aspx

    “Our testing has found that, compared to official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs, eggs from hens raised on pasture may contain:

    • 1⁄3 less cholesterol• 1⁄4 less saturated fat• 2⁄3 more vitamin A• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids• 3 times more vitamin E• 7 times more beta carotene ”

    Also, I found a link to full research document on the benefits of pastured eggs:

    Vitamins A, E and fatty acid composition of the eggs of caged hens http://www.windyridgepoultry.com/docs1/eggstudy.pdf

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      That may be true of pasture-raised birds, but a new study published this summer found no significant difference between cholesterol levels in “free-range” compared to conventional eggs (over 200mg per jumbo egg in each case). Free-range eggs are certainly better from an animal welfare standpoint, and also less likely to be contaminated with Salmonella (the leading cause of food-borne illness related death in the United States), but don’t appear to have less cholesterol, the most important health reason to minimize one’s egg intake.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/patmcneill/ patmcneill

      “• 1⁄3 less cholesterol• 1⁄4 less saturated fat” – that’s not very convincing.

      “Less” is good, but shouldn’t we instead strive to consume “zero” ? (Ok, cholesterol is also in most plants, but only at trace levels.)

      Vitamin A? – A small bunch of spinach alone exceeds minium daily requirements (microwave for 1 min and add a twist of lemon – awesome).
      Omega 3? – A tablespoon of flax seeds from the coffee grinder goes great as a topping on oatmeal or as part of a sauce (or take the supplement if you get too many 6′s with grains).
      Vitamin E? – A daily handful of roasted almonds will blow you through the minimal requirements (and provide some of the essential Ca that many of us are short of).

      If you still think those egg yolks taste great do this – go to your local hospital, find the cardiology department, sit in the waiting room for an hour, and witness a world of suffering that might in part be unnecessary.

      Hope this helps,

      patm

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/JenniferEldred/ Jennifer Eldred

    Amazing information, so glad I don’t eat eggs. Just need to figure out how to get my parents to stop eating them!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

    I eat free-range eggs, all this info is wrong. I eat A LOT of cholesterol and I’m willing to bet my cholesterol levels are much better than 90% of the population. I have a LipoProfile from LipoScience to prove it. Dietary cholesterol in foods does not lead to cardiovascular disease.
    http://chriskresser.com/three-eggs-a-day-keep-the-doctor-away

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      Gio, I’m sorry I wasn’t more clear in the video. The point the researchers were trying to make in their review is that it’s not the rise in cholesterol that accompanies the consumption of dietary cholesterol that is the primary problem. They note that you’d only expect a bump of 10% in our cholesterol level eating eggs. It’s the oxidative, pro-inflammatory effects on the endothelium (the “life jacket” lining of our arteries) that is the primary reason we need to try to avoid eating cholesterol. Unfortunately these effects are more difficult to accurately measure. And as to your final point, please see my reply your subsequent post below.

      The article you linked to makes reference to antioxidants in eggs purported to help one’s eyesight. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video-of-the-day as that’s exactly what I’m going to be talking about–perfect timing! Thank you for your contribution. I hope you’ll post more!

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio
    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

      I wrote about the cholesterol “skeptics” in my book Carbophobia (available free, full text online). One medical journal editorial entitled “Cholesterol Myth Club on Par with Flat Earth Society” read “as mixed up as Flat Earth Society members obviously are, at least you can laugh their dumb idea off, and if you want to believe the Earth is flat, this view is not going to cause serious problems like… coronary artery disease.”

      PS: Sorry for editing your post, Gio, but as NutritionFacts.org is a strictly noncommerical site, I changed the bookseller link you posted to the equivalent library link.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

    Okay, sorry about the link, but, my C-Reactive Protein is extremely low, is this not a good measure of inflammation?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

    I’m not scared of eating cholesterol, after years of eating CAFO meat, nuts, vegetables, fruit, grains, dairy, legumes, my cholesterol profile was terrible: 110 TG, 74 HDL, 135 LDL/ After 1 year of Paleo Diet,nothing but grass fed beef (fattest cut, no lean meat), vegetables, fruit, nuts, eggs (increased consumption +14 free range eggs per week), my levels with the LipoProfile from LipoScience: 30 TG, 90 HDL, 95 LDL. I ate more foods with saturated fat and cholesterol, yet, my blood lipids are significantly better.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      Hello again Gio,
      The definition of health does not stem from a cholesterol reading so this idea you are bringing up of eating more animal products being healthful is false. Cholesterol is only one tiny aspect of true health. The correlation between meat consumption and life quality is clear, as represented in this video http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/meat-mortality/ People who consume meat are at risk for a wide range of degenerative diseases and shorter lifespan. Regarding your ridiculously high egg consumption, take a look at this video, http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-one-egg-a-day-too-much/ Egg consumption as well has been linked to a significantly shorter lifespan. Regarding your “grass fed” beef, as Dr. T. Colin Campbell puts it, the compositional make up of organic grass fed beef is minute and insignificant. It still contains the same amount of antioxidants and phytochemicals, basically 0, as well as the same type of protein and nutrients. All beef and dairy is also a source of trans fat no matter how much fat you strip away http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/good-great-bad-killer-fats/ and it is recommended 0 grams of trans fat per day. Any amount exceeds this strict standard. Regarding the healthful properties of meat consumption, meat does not have any phytochemicals which are necessary for a healthful body and contains about 1 or 2 antioxidants. Check out this video regarding the comparison of animal to plant foods http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/antioxidant-power-of-plant-foods-versus-animal-foods/ Antioxidants are essential for longevity and overall health. Animals foods cause much more rapid DNA breaks compared with plant based eaters as seen here http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/repairing-dna-damage/ Animal based foods also shorten lifespan by cutting down our telomeres, therefore forcefully causing an early death. Plant based foods oppositely promote the telomerase enzyme which adds to the telomere, therefore increasing lifespan. View the video here http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/research-into-reversing-aging/ Looking further into the power of plant foods and aging, it is now known that plant foods provide mitochondrial protection by promoting the enzyme superoxide dismutase. To learn more about why this is so significant view this video http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/mitochondrial-theory-of-aging/ Basically, its a tumor suppressor and neurological protector. To promote this enzyme, it is significantly important to eat plant based. Omnivores had 3 times less of this enzyme compared with vegetarians. Taking a step back, and looking at meat besides the malicious damage done on our bodies, shows a product that is highly contaminated with heavy metals, pathogens and a massive array of other contaminants. http://nutritionfacts.org/?s=beef Meat, in an all around sense, is plain old, unhealthy.

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

        Take a look at this: Where are the vegan centenarians?http://naturalhygienesociety.org/diet3.html#8

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/JenniferEldred/ Jennifer Eldred
        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          Hello Gio,
          You are correct, major populations that are typically centenarian are not vegan. But note that they do not consume meat in the quantity that we do and their meat is typically not as tainted as ours. Even organic chicken contains arsenic in this country http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/arsenic-in-chicken/

          Regardless though, the idea of whole foods plant based veganism is relatively new so we cannot accurately measure lifespan yet since we haven’t seen a full life of pure whole foods plant based. Most people discover the diet midway through life. I was lucky enough to discover this early in my life. Based on the damaging affect of meat consumption and the understanding of the incredible healing powers of plant foods, it is safe to assume, based on the overwhelming evidence, that one would live a very long, healthy, centenarian life under a whole foods plant based diet. An interesting article to view is our anatomy in comparison towards other omnivores and herbivores. http://www.vegsource.com/news/2009/11/the-comparative-anatomy-of-eating.html I am not making the case that we are herbivores but it is safe to say that we should definitely be getting 90% of our calorie intake from plant sources based on our anatomy. It is similar to feeding cows corn, they aren’t supposed to eat corn and they encounter complications from doing so, but they can handle eating it. Meat is our corn.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            Arsenic? So plants don’t absorb arsenic? What planet do you live on? http://www.dartmouth.edu/~toxmetal/research-projects/5-plants.html

            http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1637429/

            “meat is our corn” – this is the pinnacle of stupidity. Like it or not, humans evolved because we ate meat. http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-library/are-we-meat-eaters-or-vegetarians-part-ii/

            We are genetically evolved to eat meat. Maybe not CAFO meat, but meat that is from small production farms, grass finished. This is where I buy my meat. “CAFO meat is our corn” is more accurate. Where do you get this “90%” crap? I eat a lot of plants, but I do not eat legumes, they are possibly one of the worst foods you can eat: http://whole9life.com/2011/04/legume-manifesto/

            Based on our anatomy, we are meat eaters: http://www.mnforsustain.org/food_ag_worst_mistake_diamond_j.htm
            Oh, and that Dr. Mills article is bogus. Why listen to a medical doctor on what he thinks constitutes an omnivore? Most anthropologists agree that we are omnivores.

          • BPCveg

            Gio,

            I agree with your suggestion that hunter and gatherer societies of the past ate lots of meat. But then you state “we are genetically evolved to eat meat”… I disagree. You are suggesting that past meat consumption is somehow relevant to how we should eat today to obtain optimal health.

            If meat consumption in the past had provided the Darwininan selective pressure necessary to make meat a requirement for good health, then you would not need to argue with a group of vegans who are living perfectly healthful lives. In other words, it would be obvious to us too!

            The fact is that people can obtain all required nutrition by following a whole foods plant based diet while simultaneously enjoying the benefits of a greater supply of antioxidants and a lower burden of toxins than obtainable on an omnivorous diet.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          These obscure pieces of random evidence do not prove your point. You obviously want this to be true so bad. Sorry, its not. No matter how hard you believe it to be true it wont be. I have explained my point several times now and this is becoming a circuitous argument. You are blind to the overwhelming evidence and are obsessed with your own fragmented argument. If you wish to cherry pick random information on the benefits of meat, ok. But you have to acknowledge the health detriments that come along with it. You treat meat as the best food on earth, and again, I have explained why it isn’t several times now so it is silly for me to state it again since you don’t seem to care. But then again, its more about the viewers of this debate that must decide who is more “correct”. For now, I have made my point and do not wish to carry on this debate any longer, its going no where.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            Your very own “obscure pieces of random evidence do not prove your point.” You may think that vegan/vegetarian is healthier, but “No matter how hard you believe it to be true it wont be”. “Health detriments”, right. You keep on believing your PCRM sources of info, after all they tell lies, and If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. You need to read The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            OH and what about Steve Jobs? Wasn’t he a vegetarian? He died of pancreatic cancer, glad that meat-free diet worked out for him.

          • plantbaseforever

            please watch Dr Mcdougall’s video on How Steve Jobs died, he actually lived longer because he was a vegan.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          Really? Your going to go there? Vegetarian implies that dairy and eggs are still in the diet as well as the possibility of processed foods. Again, you ignore the facts.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

            Steve Jobs ate fish as well………Our environment can also give us cancer. But that’s another story. I so wish he tried the Gerson Therapy.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            The Gerson Therapy. What kind of garbage is that??

            http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/cancer.html

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

            To Gio, um…..I have read a lot of information regarding the Gerson Therapy. Including your nice little quack watch link. Until they add chemotherapy to the quack watch site, I don’t give it much merit. Garbage? I do know it’s not the “same” garbage that killed 5 people I know this summer. I do know that people have cured themselves, and longer than the 5 year cure that the ACS considers cured, for decades from pancreatic cancers, melanomas, etc…..I am also following a mother and daughter using the therapy for 2 different types of cancers. The daughter had already tried therapies that would not be on quack watch, like drugs, chemo, and radiation. They didn’t work. People should have options available to them. I also feel like you seem more angry then wanting to engage in a conversation about how we can better things and so don’t think it’s prudent to spend any further time engaging with you. Wish you luck on your journey and that you find peace.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

    Um……..I also think the Cholesterol test that we run today is bogus. That’s why people think that cholesterol has nothing to do with heart disease, well at least maybe one reason. The VAP test measures not only the generic stuff, but goes pretty in depth. Check those VLDL levels, as you can have “normal” (and what is normal in the States, is well, whatever) cholesterol & be in a bad way. Also, your particle size. In addition to the fact that this was about inflammation. There isn’t enough land anyhow, to raise all the “perfect” meat & dairy so the world could eat like us. But I think the 75% obesity rate is probably speaking for itself-But PaleoMan, I would get a VAP test, which should be free if you can get the script. Just to ensure that you are as squeaky clean as you think, and then get it repeated every so often as you age.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

    Damn right the cholesterol tests we run today are bogus. I’m sorry but the VAP test is not as accurate as the NMR LipoProfile I got from LipoScience. Everything was measured directly and not estimated with the Friedewald Formula. The LipoProfile gives you Large VLDL, Small VLDL, Large HDL-P, VLDL size, HDL size, HDL size, and insulin resistance score (I scored an 8 out of 100) Also, my C-Reactive protein is 35% lower, which means significantly less inflammation. I’m willing to bet my levels are better than yours. Also, in my family, we all have naturally high cholesterol levels (men and women). Because of the cholesterol vilifying doctors in America, one of my cousins decided to go vegan, after 10 years on the diet (lost weight, lowered cholesterol), he was the very first person in my family to have a heart attack. Yes he ate plenty of B12. And by the way, obesity has nothing to do with eating meat, I am 6 feet, currently 185 lbs with 6% body fat. http://high-fat-nutrition.blogspot.com/2009/02/cholesterol-presentation-between.html

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      Hello Gio,
      Just to clarify, vegan does does not mean healthful. One can be a junk food vegan eating oil, fried foods, white bread, soy isolates, processed foods, etc. Eating these foods defeats the purpose of being vegan if one is looking for a healthful approach over an ethical one. On a whole foods plant based diet on the other hand, it is extremely difficult to achieve heart disease (unless you eat nutrient poor foods such as white potato and coconuts but in general this is the case). The epithelial cell wall surrounding your blood vessels and arteries repairs and never becomes damaged. This wall is responsible for keeping your blood smooth as well as contracting and expanding. This video by Dr. Caldwell Essylsten explains the process. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYTf0z_zVs0 As stated in my above comment to you, meat brings on a wide array of illnesses. Being skinny with a low body fat percentage does not signify good health, as does a low cholesterol reading. Again, advocating meat into ones diet is extremely harmful and the blog post link you submitted is a look at only cholesterol. For more information on cholesterol and other issues, check out this video, http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/convergence-of-evidence/

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

        FACT: Humans are omnivores, always have been always will be. I do not eat CAFO meat, it is nothing but antibiotics, growth hormones, and surplus germs. Grass-fed, free-range, hormone/antiobiotic-free animal meat is completely different. As a meat eater, I also eat a LOT of vegetables, in fact I make it a point to eat more vegetables than meat. Not only is my cholesterol optimal, but my C-Reactive protein is low and my insulin sensitivity is optimal. Currently at 6 feet, 190 lbs, I have 10% body fat. As you can see I am far from obese (meat does not make you fat). OH, I eat mostly the fatty cuts of meat, not the lean kind. Furthermore, the acid/alkaline balance in my blood is at optimal levels, meaning that meat does not cause bone degeneration. Take a look at this study:
        http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16804013?ordinalpos=5&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

        And read this: http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/sugar-and-sweeteners/vegetarians-age-faster-2/

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/BenjaminStone/ Benjamin Stone

          I am enjoying this debate gentlemen!

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            To those who think that vegans/vegetarians are “healthier”: I run a Strength&Conditioning program(not a stupid gym) and this is what I’ve noticed: all vegetarians/vegans I’ve seen come through are weaker, have more body fat, get sick more often than the rest of us. All the physical fitness tests we run, they all fail to even come close to the strength gains, endurance/stamina/speed/agility/balance/coordination that us “meat eaters” achieve. In fact, one of my clients has just recently started eating meat, ditching the legumes and grains, and guess what? In just three months, he’s considerably stronger than the rest of the vegetarians. He just told me that he has never felt better, and his doctor can’t believe the amount of fat he has lost and is happier with his lab results. He has put on more muscle, lost fat, no longer looks “skinny fat”. His endurance/speed/stamina has increased tremendously. He is making it his mission to convert people to this much healthier lifestyle. OH, he is also able to sleep better and have more energy.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          Hello Gio,
          One must weigh out the pros and cons of high meat consumption. As I have stated several times before, body fat percentage is not an indicator of good health. To consume fatty parts of meat, especially beef, is simply not health promoting as you will see in this video http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/good-great-bad-killer-fats/

          You will of course stumble upon evidence that says “there are benefits to meat”, but I am still waiting to see the evidence that nutrient dense plant sources are harmful or reduce lifespan. Who can find information on why kale will harm us? The overwhelming evidence points to plant based. Your making a great point that there are benefits to meat but there are also much more harms that come with the benefits. Take spirulina for example, it is 70% protein, can control blood sugar levels, blood pressure, cholesterol and helps with seasonal allergies. Yet we look at the harms and Spirulina may dissolve our muscles from the inside out, can cause liver cancer from the hepatotoxins it has and it contains a potent neuro toxin in it that can cause nerve damage. http://nutritionfacts.org/?s=spirulina The harms outweighs the good so the wisest choice would be to avoid it.
          Another point to make is that unless your sourcing meat from a local farm, it will be contaminated no matter if it is organic or conventional.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

            You are using semantics in a failed attempt to sound clever. Obviously, no one is saying that Kale will “harm us.” It’s what a vegan is leaving out of the diet that is harmful.

            Who can deny that a diet which includes animal protein is optimal for humans, when it is a scientific and nutritional FACT that the human body cannot be healthy without the vitamin B12 that animal protein, and NO OTHER FOOD, provides? If you have to supplement your diet with regular visits to GNC, then your diet is unsuitable for a human.

            I cannot imagine that there needs to be further argument, when that one, simple, undeniable fact all on it’s own cannot be overcome by any argument a vegan could make in support of the “experiment” they call a diet.

            The fact that we have survived, and thrived, for as many years as a species as we have proves out the efficiency and effectiveness of animal protein in our diet.

            If we were not meant to be meat eaters, why then do our bodies require the vitamin B12 which can only be found naturally in animal protein? Seems a little odd that we would have that requirement for our bodies not just to be healthy, BUT TO SURVIVE????

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          If one is using the “personal experience” game then I can show you this too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSjBmn_cOpo

          In addition to this video above, I am a sponsored rock climber and my greatest strength gains have come since dropping meat. More endurance, quicker recoveries, high energy, etc. The personal experience game will not work, one must use scientific sources as a source of evidence.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

            Right, let me know when a vegetarian/vegan actually does well in the CrossFit Games.

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/dsikes/ DSikes

            Griff’s comment about B12 does indicate humans evolved as omnivores. However, it does not follow that omnivory is an optimal human diet. Most of our evolutionary history was spent without modern medicine or science but few people would argue the absence of these in our life is an optimal way to live. Also, evolution only cares if an organism survives to reproduce successfully. Human lifespans were MUCH shorter in our evolutionary past so meat eating may work fine for paleo humans who died around age 40 after raising their children. Good luck!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

      Why not just stick to your diet then…….why waste your time being angry on this site?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/drrggibbs/ drrggibbs

    Dietary cholesterol is packaged in the gut into chylomicrons, which do not become LDL. The cholesterol in LDL comes from the liver. So it doesn’t make a lot of sense to talk about dietary cholesterol and LDL. Where has it been shown that atherosclerosis is caused by cholesterol; the presence of cholesterol in plaques is not a proof of cause. Spence et al said “based on the careful and independent conclusions of Ancel Keys”. Keys was the originator of the idea that saturated fats are a cause of heart disease; he cherry picked his data to justify this. A consideration of all the data then available would not have backed his conclusion. I have also read that even Keys didn’t blame dietary cholesterol. There is no direct proof that dietary saturated fat is a risk in heart disease. Animal studies on cholesterol are questionable, especially if the animal in question cannot regulate its cholesterol production in response to dietary cholesterol (which of course one would expect in animals that naturally do not consume cholesterol.)

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio
  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/JenniferEldred/ Jennifer Eldred

    This is why I love your info Dr. Greger, because you only talk about HUMAN studies.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

    http://chriskresser.com/three-eggs-a-day-keep-the-doctor-away

    “Egg intake has been shown to promote the formation of large LDL, in addition to shifting individuals from the LDL pattern B to pattern A, which is less atherogenic.”

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/patrick-c/ Patrick C.

    Hey love your site! What is your opinion on this Harvard study? Thank You!

    http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/egg-nutrition

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio
    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      Hello Gio,

      Nobody is doubting cholesterol is necessary for proper health. No doubt! The human body actually creates this cholesterol and plants actually contain very minute amounts of cholesterol as well. But this implies we need very little extra sources of cholesterol. It is like the amino acids, the non essential ones do not need to be focused on because our body produces them but the essential ones are necessary for proper health.
      Similarly to cholesterol is arachadonic acid, our bodies produce this chemical so we don’t need to consume extra quantities of it. The cat, which is a strict meat eater, does not produce arachadonic acid because it obtains it from animal sources. http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/inflammatory-remarks-about-arachidonic-acid/

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

    Meat Contains more arsenic than plants……….We may not be able to avoid something entirely but we can minimize exposure. And to anyone wanting to know the true health regarding cholesterol-have your doctor get you a VAP test. This will break down all the types of cholesterol and show you particle size. Sure, your total number can be 156 and you can have a heart attack, but if you break down those numbers then there is probably a number out of whack. LDL (c) is one to watch…….It is your legal right to egg eggs, however I am not happy that I as a taxpayer am subsidizing them. These are peer reviewed studies, so it isn’t like he is making the information up. It is also not like the places he cites studies from are “pro vegan” in the least!!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

      The VAP test is ancient technology. Get an NMR LipoProfile like I did, it is a lot more accurate. I’ve already shared my LipoProfile on this site, I have the large particle, harmless LDL. LDL is not “one to watch”, it is only 1 number, you also need to watch your TGs, mine are ultra low, you also need a good high HDL, which mine is. Also, C-reactive protein measure the inflammation on your body; inflammation directly contributes to heart health, mine is ultra low, lower than 90% of the population. ALSO, you must pay attention to insulin sensitivity, a known contributor to heart disease. As for the eggs, I get mine that are free-range, antibiotic and hormone free, they are NOT subsidized. PLUS, people who have LOW cholesterol have heart attacks. AND PLEASE DEBUNK THIS STUDY, it shows that women with higher cholesterol live longer: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2753.2011.01767.x/pdf

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

    Our body also already makes cholesterol. So yes, we may need it, but it is already there!

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

      This is what I find really funny: my entire family has “naturally high cholesterol”, whatever that means. One of my cousins decided to do something about it and he went vegan. He took all the proper supplementation under the supervision of a vegan nutritionist, he lowered his cholesterol below everyone in my family. After 10 years, he was the first person in my family to have a heart attack. People with low cholesterol have heart attacks.

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

        DId he have all of those tests done???? We don’t know your brother or what his situation is but since only 1% of the population may be vegan, I am doubting that us vegans have all the heart disease, cancer, & diabetes in the country. You are allowed to eat however you feel is ethical and your food is subsidized. That makes it very nice for you. I choose to minimize the suffering around me because I cannot actually live another way. It isn’t a choice for me. And minimize is the key word here.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/gio/ Gio

          It’s my cousin, not my brother. My food is NOT subsidized. Yes, he had all these tests done, his TGs were elevated, near 120, that’s awful, mine hover around 35-45. His LDL was exceptionally low- 53, his HDL was around 60. He had really high C-reactive protein- lots of inflammation, probably from those “healthy” whole grains.

          • plantbaseforever

            Wow, reading your comments make me shriver. I was diagnosed with breaast cancer last year…I was given the book The China Study to read, I went cold turkey to a plant based diet never looked back. you see I am runner and always believed we need aminal protein for muscle recovery and to get stronger..being on plant base diet I have more energy plus I feel much stronger…no only did I refuse chemo & radiation, my last PET scan showed some tumors gone, some shrunk and not growing. Animal protein raises estrogen in women which feeds cancer cells, lots of women are now going vegan for this reason.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/LachicaveganaComefrutas/ Lachicavegana Comefrutas

    It’s hard to know what he was actually eating :)
    I can only speak for myself and my numbers were great……….I will still probably get mesothelioma from going into abandoned homes in East St. Louis with the rescue group…..but hoping to utilize Gerson or something NON chemo if something like that does ever happen. I can only choose my own diet, and I started going this over 30 years ago, when I was a child, because I did not have a choice. I am thrilled with the health benefits it has given me personally, but that obviously was not my concern in grade school. To tell me to eat burgers would have been like telling a child to kill his/her dog :) In my family my mom is the only one not with high cholesterol or other issues like that, and she is pretty much vegan, always vegetarian. She has a ton of other stress from working nights and parenting….but so far she has avoided medications. Her father died at 43 of a heart attack. My health & the enivronment are just fringe benefits of this lifestyle for me. I personally cannot eat meat or dairy. I do go to a preventive care doctor and so far after 30 years of plants, apparently everything is great. But that isn’t why I’m doing this. But I have lost several people, not in my family, to cancer, and I do feel passionately about food choices and cancer risks.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/PeteLett/ Pete Lett

    Odd, I’ve eaten no less than a dozen eggs a day, sometimes even raw, along with bacon, sausage, butter, red meat, and a long list of things that all the experts say are ‘bad’, haven’t eaten anything soy in almost a year, yet my doc says that I’m in better shape and health than 99% of all patients he’s ever seen, including all his patients on vegetarian and vegan diets.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      I am not sure what your doctor is using to define as “healthy” since you seem to be lacking any sort of phytonutrients and fiber. Check out Dr. McDougall’s article on high protein diets, and why weight loss occurs initially as well as the initial lowering of cholesterol and etc.
      http://www.drmcdougall.com/res_high_protein_diets.html

      Check out this video on one egg a day
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-one-egg-a-day-too-much/

      Furthermore, see the antioxidant and aging videos, because animal products have no lifespan increasing effect but shortens lifespan and stresses cell DNA, shortens Telomeres at an expedited rate and stresses the cell mitochondria.
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/repairing-dna-damage/
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/research-into-reversing-aging/
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/mitochondrial-theory-of-aging/
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/antioxidant-power-of-plant-foods-versus-animal-foods/

      If you are trying to eat paleolithic and avoid complex carbohydrates this seems silly to me. I find it interesting that people idealize these ancient peoples. They had no knowledge of nutrition at all, they just ate whatever was available, it wasn’t about health and nutrition it was, eat whatever you can find to survive. They had very short lifespans as well so I wouldn’t idealize that, we have a lot more knowledge about what foods are healthy for us and we have the variety available to us to choose, they did not have that luxury. They hunted because during climate change, migration and famine or drought there was nothing else to eat. That’s like people in another million years saying back in in the 1900′s a lot of people smoked cigarettes so why shouldn’t we?

      Furthermore, current meat eating populations have significantly lower lifespans then most advanced countries. For example, the inuit live 10 years less on average then the average Canadian, and the average Canadian eats similar to the average American. So your looking at the 60′s for survival. The Maize are an African population that eat all animal products as well and live on average to about the age of 45, they don’t usually make it past 60. The Okinawan on the other hand are plant based and usually live to be centenarians. Choose your team wisely!

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

        I think the point is that we evolved eating that way – our bodies adjusted to that because that’s what there was. People may have had shorter life spans, but we certainly survived and thrived as a species. Meat and fat were instrumental in growing the big brains we have as humans, and there is much speculation that the effects of hunting and adding that fat-rich animal protein to our diets is what grew our brains and separated us from the apes in intelligence and culture.

        And I’m not sure what YOU mean by holding up any Japanese or other Asian culture as plant-based. They have always eaten a great deal of fish, and also ate pork and chicken. ??? They also relied heavily on soy – does that mean we should?

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          Griff, i encourage you to explore this site and view what more studies Dr. Greger collects. I also encourage you to view Atkins Exposed, a book written by Dr. Greger that directly attacks high protein diets.
          http://www.atkinsexposed.org/

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

            You know, I have explored veganism – a couple of years ago I came to a place in my life where I knew I had to make some dietary changes for my health. I explored veganism, talked with many vegans, attended group gatherings, and seriously considered the possibility for myself. What I kept coming back to again and again was that most vegans “think” they feel great, but for a variety of reasons many begin to eat animal protein again, and suddenly realize they weren’t feeling all that great after all. I heard many stories from former vegans, but some common themes were recurrent. Chiefly, poor immune response to viruses; long, drawn-out, and life changing recovery times; increasing weakness over time; depression and hypersensitivity to everyday circumstances; slowed mental responses; bad skin and hair loss; and the list went on and on. Mind you, these weren’t people who just woke up one day and decided to quit eating animal protein. One gentleman was a naturopath. Another was an acupuncturist, and another a chiropractor! These are folks who researched a diet free of animal protein prior to making that change in their lives, and still were disappointed at how their health declined. At the very least I would have to say it’s just not a healthy diet for everyone.

            Another consideration for a lot of people is a sensitivity to carbohydrates. I am not able to devote that much of my diet to carbohydrates. When I have done so, in the absence of protein, I am rendered completely useless from a constant feeling of sleep deprivation, caused, I believe, from spikes in insulin. I will not be eating huge quantities of soy in any form, and beans and grains disagree with me more than any other foods I’ve ever tried.

            I am hesitant to agree that a vegan diet is sustainable for a long, healthy life. I have heard comparisons between the human digestive tract and that of the great apes. No one seems to consider the fact that if they aren’t washing their food (and they’re not) they aren’t eating as purely vegan a diet as a lot of folks want to claim. Insect matter covers most surfaces, unless it is washed away. Chimps use tools like twigs to plumb termite mounds for their inhabitants on a regular basis. And who can forget the scenes of carnage, readily seen on the National Geographic channel, of chimp and gorilla males riling up their underlings to attack and kill the young of rival males in order to bring the females into estrus? And they aren’t just killing them, they share the meat of those babies between themselves. Vegan? I think not.

            For me, the fact that our meat-eating diet has provided us the nutrients to survive, thrive, and rise above our primate relations over the course of our history as humans is enough to prove out it’s effectiveness as a adequate and healthy diet. Veganism is about as “new-age” a diet as it gets. Scientists agree that if ever there had been a purely vegan society anywhere on earth, they certainly didn’t last long enough to leave traces of themselves.

            Over the course of my research, many vegans pointed to some indigenous Indian populations as shining examples of societies who ate a vegan diet and glowed with health. Well, we all know the folly of that story – their native diet was so infested with insect matter that they remained healthy, and when they attempted to replicate their diet in Western Europe, they became malnourished because the food in the Western world was free of insect infestation.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          I would like to see science based evidence that a vegan diet is not healthy, rather than personal anecdotes and assumptions. So far, the science is in the total favor of a plant based diet and it is well known that a whole foods, plant based diet can, and does reverse degenerative diseases that occur today. Again, I encourage you to explore the website thoroughly, as you have apparently not done so.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

          I ask you for science based evidence and you show me a page that has outlandish, unsupported claims? The first thing I see is “cod liver oil is a super food” yet Dr. Greger thoroughly revokes this claim.
          http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/is-cod-liver-oil-good-for-you/

          When you find scientific, peer reviewed studies and reviews on the ill effects of a vegan diet be sure to pass it on. I can point to many that show meat to be quite harmful, or you can look for yourself by simply looking through this site.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mike-quinoa/ Mike Quinoa

    One of the authors of this study, J. David Spence MD, is one of the world’s leading experts in stroke prevention. In his book “How To Prevent Your Stroke,” he indicates that people who desire meat in their diet should eat no more than 2 oz. every day (or 4 oz. every other day).

    Or of course, you could dispense with meat entirely.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

    How is it that there is still argument about what constitutes an adequate diet for humans when we know that the human body requires **FOR SURVIVAL** vitamins that can only be provided by the consumption of animal protein? I’m talking of course about vitamin B12, or does no one else seem to see that if you have to supplement your diet with a visit to GNC, your diet is obviously NOT SUITABLE FOR HUMAN SURVIVAL???

    And why is it that so many of the vegans I’ve met, be they well-informed and educated vegans, who think they are making the right dietary decision for their health, or those that just can’t eat anything that “has a face”, end up depressed, slow-witted, angry, forgetful, sickly, and have no energy or drive? Hmmmm…. Makes me wonder if there isn’t something missing from their diets….

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/ChuckMetcalfe/ Chuck Metcalfe

      Look at the replies here that are for and against the vegan diet. One of the two groups is clearly displaying what is maybe not quite anger but clearly aggression.

      If you stop eating animals your blood lust might just stop.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/JenniferEldred/ Jennifer Eldred

      You are meeting the wrong vegans ;)

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

      And yet, neither of you addresses the question of vitamin B12.

      • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/ChuckMetcalfe/ Chuck Metcalfe

        There was no need to address that non-issue.

        • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

          Maybe you could just explain why it’s a non-issue then, because I’d really like to hear what you think-

          • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/ChuckMetcalfe/ Chuck Metcalfe

            “Non-issue” means it’s nothing to worry about. A simple google search would have found you the definition of that phrase easily.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

    Okay, I have googled the subject of vitamin B12, and read books, and talked with Dr.s., and I’m thinking it might be a bigger issue than you realize. I’m asking YOU to explain why YOU think vitamin B12, as it relates to nutrition, is a non-issue. Can you do that? I would really appreciate it. It seems like if you know anything about it you would be able to expound on why you think it’s a non-issue, but if you don’t know, then…..

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/ChuckMetcalfe/ Chuck Metcalfe

      Plants and animals cannot make their own vitamin B12. B12 is synthesized through the fermentation of microorganisms, most commonly Pseudomonas denitrificans and Propionibacterium shermanii.

      Eating animals is completely unnecessary for getting vitamin B12.

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/toxins/ Toxins

      Hello Griff,

      Dr. Greger explains in his later videos (not released yet until a few weeks) more on the topic of B12. Vitamin B12 is a byproduct of bacteria, it was once found in our water supply, and on the plant foods we eat. Because we now chlorinate our water (to avoid getting sick from other bugs) and because we dont ground pick our vegetables from the wild without washing them, the only available source is now from animal products. This is of course an unnatural setting. Similarly, iodine is no longer found in plant foods. This is why the government iodized salt, to help Americans get adequate iodine intake. Similarly still, we do not expose ourselves to adequate sunlight, and the UV rays of today are much more potent then they once were in our evolutionary past so vitamin D must be supplemented for optimal health.

      Humans have changed their environment, so sometimes supplements are necessary to achieve optimal health.
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vitamin-supplements-worth-taking/
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/vitamin-d-supplements-may-be-necessary/
      http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/avoiding-iodine-deficiency-2/

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/griff/ Griff

    Okay. Point made, point taken. I will no longer use that as my argument against veganism. I still disagree that it is sustainable for the planet, as most vegans seem to claim, but you are correct on this point. Why didn’t you just say so to begin with?

    • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/ChuckMetcalfe/ Chuck Metcalfe

      I didn’t say it to begin with because anyone who actually looked into vitamin b12 already knows where to get it and where it comes from.

      As for the meat diet providing us “the nutrients to survive, thrive, and rise above our primate relations over the course of our history as humans,” the biggest boost to our development as a species was the discovery/invention of cooking.

  • Michael Greger M.D.

    Also be sure to check out my associated blog post Bad Egg!

  • alice11

    Does the lecithin in eggs stop cholesterol absorption (as some claim) or inhibit the inflammatory and oxidative effects? 

    • Toxins

      No it does not, cholesterol in eggs as well as the marked levels of arachadonic acid found in eggs both cause problems.

      “Diet is not all about fasting lipids; it is mainly about the three-quarters of the day that we are in the nonfasting state. Fasting lipids can be thought of as a baseline; they show what the endothelium was exposed to for the last few hours of the night.”
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2989358/?tool=pubmed

  • db

    The fact of the matter is, nutrition is ENTIRELY dependent on the individual. Saying that everyone should be raw vegan, or vegetarian, or whatever is just plain short sighted. There is a guy in India who is an Oxygenarian. Does that mean we should all just not eat anything?

    Plants have feelings too. This has been proven time and time again, so your ethics argument is completely false. Nutritionally, you can get what you need from plants, but you can only do this because of the modern system of food production and delivery. People living in Siberia don’t eat strictly vegetables because they simply cannot grow what they need to remain healthy. They eat meat, and guess what? They are perfectly healthy doing that and have lived for 1000′s of years without the same problems people have in modern society.

    There is NO ethical reason not to eat meat. You cannot hold the life of a cow over the life of an insect, and your strict vegetarian diet kills way more insects than cows. Environmentally there is some argument there, but to say that no meat should ever be consumed would through the balance of wildlife out of whack. We do not have enough predators to keep the prey in line, and many prey animals simply starve to death if they are not culled by hunters using them for meat.

    Much of the research is flawed anyway because science has this nasty little secret no one wants to admit. There is no way to accurately assume that a small sample of the population from one area of the world is an accurate representation of the entire human population. There is no way to eliminate all the variables that could effect a studies outcome so ANY study you see in regard to human interaction is flawed at it’s core. Until you can bring an infant up in a lab and never feed it eggs, then have it’s identical twin grow up in the same lab and experience the exact same introduction of nutrients with the addition of eggs, you will NEVER have an accurate assessment of the effect eggs have on the human biology.

    All of this is junk science disguised behind lobbyists and people who claim they know what is best. Eat meat if you want. There is nothing wrong with it. Get off your high horse and stop trying to change the way people live their lives.

  • http://twitter.com/cagelingscall Corbin Nevermore

    Nutrition is an individual thing. One thing that works for one person may or may not work for another. All of this is junk science. Any time you see someone referencing a “study” the study itself does not adhere to true scientific principals. There are too many variables involved to determine anything even remotely accurate. This is the dirty little secret of the health industry. They want you to believe that a small sample of the population is representative of everyone on the planet.

    To really understand what is happening, you would have to have two babies who were identical twins. They would have to be raised in a lab where they were introduced to the exact same nutrition and stimulus their entire lives until the variable was changed. One twin would be given eggs and one would not. Then their life would continue in parallel until some kind of symptom arose in the one given eggs. then you would get a true scientific conclusion. Anything less is just opinion.

    As for the vegan debate, please just stop it. Vegans and vegetarians have no solid ground. If you indulge in that lifestyle for ethical reasons, your ethics are flawed. Plants have a consciousness, and have been proven to experience fear and pain. Nonetheless, millions of insects die as a result of the cultivation of plants. To say that insect or plant life is less precious than animal life is absurd. It is also absurd to say that an animal fears more or feels more pain than an insect or a plant.

    If you want to spout off about the environmental impact, you may want to look at how we have destroyed biodeversity with plants. There are thousands of varietals that are extinct now for the sake of growing standard vegetables. Then there is the issues of pesticides, insecticides, and GMO’s which are all a result of vegetable production. Certainly there is a heavy price for animal production, but to say that vegetable production is any less destructive is once again absurd.

    I won’t even being to talk about the environmental impact if we simply let all of the animals go free and had no checks in place to regulate populations. Just talk to the fish and game people about deer and you will understand how out of whack we are with the predator/prey dynamic in many parts of the world.

    If you are a vegetarian or a vegan for health reasons, again, you have no ground to stand upon. there are plenty of cultures and people who do not have the luxury of going to the grocery store to buy ingredients shipped in from far away cultures. They eat what is local, and they can ONLY get certain vitamins and minerals from animal sources. Many of these cultures do not have the same diseases western cultures do, and certainly do not have them at the epidemic levels the west does. Your health is not entirely dependent on what you put into your moth, so trying to profess that you can be healthy simply by not eating animals is once again absurd.

    Most people who hide behind these things are really only choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle out of vanity. You want to have that false sense of superiority or a false sense of ethics. You are being absurd and when you spout off it only proves how absurd you really are. Eat some bacon. It’s not going to kill you as fast as a million other factors will.

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000079502489 Kelly Olsen

      If you truly believe that the peer-reviewed scientific research is “junk,” and that human nutrition is beyond the study of modern science, then why are you here on a research-reporting website clogging up the comments section? No one is talking about the ethics of meat consumption except you. This website is for those of us who want to keep up with the lastest in health and nutrition research. Thank you.

    • Jeff

      Wow, Corbin you obviously have too much time on your hands. I disagree with most of what you say, however, ill only touch on the nutrition side of it. Yes, everyones bodies are different but the plant based diet has so much powerful research behind it, with VERY convincing studies and research. Vegans often eat terribly so that means nothing. But if you eat a whole food, plant based diet, I believe it would be a healthy choice for most, if not everyone, with certain needed supplementation for certain people. Yes, one piece of bacon wont kill you but even one piece does have an effect on the endothelial cells in your arteries, thus effecting your chances for atheroclerosis through a nitric oxide effect. Look at Dr. Esselyton’s book, how to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. There is nothing in meat and dairy that you cant get from a plant based diet, except B-12 in some cases, in which you can supplement. You should try it, you may be surprised. I’m always open to new research and may change my diet at some time , but for now NOT eating meat and dairy is a no brainer for me.

  • http://www.facebook.com/james.miranda.501 James Miranda

    nice info, very helpfully Doc !!!

  • Jay

    If you consume 30-40g of dietary fiber through foods a day, doesn’t that lower the amount of dietary cholesterol in your blood?

    • http://www.DonForresterMD.com/ Don Forrester MD

      Yes dietary cholesterol is lowered by a higher intake of fiber. You can review the topic summary by Denise see… http://nutritionfacts.org/topics/cholesterol/ and follow the links to see the various factors that can lower your cholesterol. There are currently 93 videos relating to cholesterol on NutritionFacts.org. Of course when you are consuming a lot of fiber you are consuming a lot of plants which means you are consuming less animal products and hence less cholesterol and saturated fats. Oatmeal for breakfast does lower cholesterol partly from the effects of the oatmeal and partly due to the other breakfast foods it replaces such as eggs.

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