cheryl
Administrator
Staff member
Do we really need to watch what we eat? - Marin Independent Journal
Do we really need to watch what we eat is it’s mostly genetic?
Recently a friend said she doesn’t monitor what she eats because she heard that high cholesterol is all genetic and recent research proves it.
Sounds great, but is it true? We’ve been told for decades to watch what we eat. Should we? When we find people frozen in ice from thousands of years ago, their cholesterol levels are about one-fourth of the average American — did our genes change significantly or has the food we eat changed?
Let’s start with “cholesterol.” First is the issue of semantics. There is cholesterol — a compound made of 27 carbon atoms, 46 hydrogen atoms and a single oxygen atom. There is also cholesterol the nickname we give the cholesterol panel, the group of lab tests that measure cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL.
Do we really need to watch what we eat is it’s mostly genetic?
Recently a friend said she doesn’t monitor what she eats because she heard that high cholesterol is all genetic and recent research proves it.
Sounds great, but is it true? We’ve been told for decades to watch what we eat. Should we? When we find people frozen in ice from thousands of years ago, their cholesterol levels are about one-fourth of the average American — did our genes change significantly or has the food we eat changed?
Let’s start with “cholesterol.” First is the issue of semantics. There is cholesterol — a compound made of 27 carbon atoms, 46 hydrogen atoms and a single oxygen atom. There is also cholesterol the nickname we give the cholesterol panel, the group of lab tests that measure cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL.