4 ms·

Taking a single food alone is bad. You should look at a full diet. For example, wheat/grain paired with beans, lentils, and other foods that provide a variety o

by mfer 4y ago

Taking a single food alone is bad. You should look at a full diet. For example, wheat/grain paired with beans, lentils, and other foods that provide a variety of needed proteins. You also need to look at the downside. Eggs have a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol. This have been reproducibly tied to high cholesterol in people. Eggs have also been tied to colon cancer. Pulling out a single nutrient in a single food is dangers because it doesn't give us a complete picture of a healthy diet.

gavinray 4y ago
Agreed, this is reductionist and nothing is ever so simple but compared to current nutrition "labels" we have it's miles better. I'm waiting for augmented reality to get far enough I can wear glasses that can scan the food I eat, estimate the composition + macros, and log it for me. That'll be the day.
jononomo 4y ago
High cholesterol is a good thing in the absence of obesity or any other negative health indicators. You want to have a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet, frankly. And eggs have not been tied to colon cancer in any meaningful sense. A person could eat a dozen eggs a day for years and be in perfect health.
- mfer 4y ago
  High cholesterol is directly linked to heart disease. The negative side effects take years (decades really) to become an issue. Doctors know enough about it now to describe what's biologically happening. High cholesterol (and what causes it) being normalized is one of the reasons heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US[1]. High cholesterol has such an impact on health that the American Heart Association has a section dedicated to it[2]. So do many other health organizations around the world. The parents comments should not be taken seriously. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [2] https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol
  - jononomo 4y ago
    Your first link is to the leading causes of death, which means nothing since high cholesterol lowers all cause mortality. And in elderly people it is protective against dementia. Your second link goes to a site that directly says that cholesterol is not bad. In fact, cholesterol is the foundation of the human hormone system -- it is likely the dearth of animal fats and red meat in our western diet over the last few decades that has led to the explosion in depression, ADHD, bi-polar disorder, and so forth.
    - mfer 4y ago
      A healthy amount of cholesterol is good for you. Too much LDL is bad for you. Your body makes the amount you need. Too much more of it leads to health issues like heart disease [1]. This is why doctors put people on LDL lowering medications when they get high (e.g., statins). To quote the link, "But too much cholesterol can pose a problem." If you click through, "Learn more about cholesterol"[2] there are things in it like, "Cholesterol can join with other substances to form a thick, hard deposit on the inside of the arteries. This can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible – a condition known as atherosclerosis. If a blood clot forms and blocks one of these narrowed arteries, a heart attack or stroke can result." [1] https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ldl_hdl.htm https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ldl_hdl.htm [2] https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cholesterol https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cho...
      - jononomo 4y ago
        Frankly I don't believe that statins are necessary in 99.9% of cases and I think that people focus far too simplistically on cholesterol. I can remember that days before the HDL/LDL distinction. Now it turns out that moderately high LDL is not necessarily bad if it not accompanied by other negative risk factors (obese, pre-diabetic, etc). The fact of the matter is that there is a single diet that is ideal for all humans, just as is the case with every other animal species on the planet. Homo Sapiens are obligate carnivores and we do best when eliminating all plant-based material from our diet. And we certainly don't find heart disease in the indigenous populations that follow an entirely carnivorous diet, such as the Maasai and the Inuit, unless they have adopted a more plant-heavy, processed-food Western-style diet. (Note that we have to "process" plant-based food, but we can just eat meat and eggs raw -- another sign that we are obligate carnivores). I agree that high cholesterol may be a problem is you're obese, as almost all Americans are, and if you don't follow a 100% carnivorous diet focusing on red meat.
- adrian_b 4y ago
  While I have not seen any credible study tying eggs to cancer, there are some studies which claim to have found a significant statistical correlation between a diet including many eggs and some cardiovascular diseases, independent of any influence on cholesterol.

by mfer 4y ago

gavinray 4y ago

Agreed, this is reductionist and nothing is ever so simple but compared to current nutrition "labels" we have it's miles better. I'm waiting for augmented reality to get far enough I can wear glasses that can scan the food I eat, estimate the composition + macros, and log it for me. That'll be the day.

jononomo 4y ago

High cholesterol is a good thing in the absence of obesity or any other negative health indicators. You want to have a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet, frankly. And eggs have not been tied to colon cancer in any meaningful sense. A person could eat a dozen eggs a day for years and be in perfect health.

mfer 4y ago
High cholesterol is directly linked to heart disease. The negative side effects take years (decades really) to become an issue. Doctors know enough about it now to describe what's biologically happening. High cholesterol (and what causes it) being normalized is one of the reasons heart disease is the leading cause of death in the US[1]. High cholesterol has such an impact on health that the American Heart Association has a section dedicated to it[2]. So do many other health organizations around the world. The parents comments should not be taken seriously. [1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm [2] https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol
- jononomo 4y ago
  Your first link is to the leading causes of death, which means nothing since high cholesterol lowers all cause mortality. And in elderly people it is protective against dementia. Your second link goes to a site that directly says that cholesterol is not bad. In fact, cholesterol is the foundation of the human hormone system -- it is likely the dearth of animal fats and red meat in our western diet over the last few decades that has led to the explosion in depression, ADHD, bi-polar disorder, and so forth.
  - mfer 4y ago
    A healthy amount of cholesterol is good for you. Too much LDL is bad for you. Your body makes the amount you need. Too much more of it leads to health issues like heart disease [1]. This is why doctors put people on LDL lowering medications when they get high (e.g., statins). To quote the link, "But too much cholesterol can pose a problem." If you click through, "Learn more about cholesterol"[2] there are things in it like, "Cholesterol can join with other substances to form a thick, hard deposit on the inside of the arteries. This can narrow the arteries and make them less flexible – a condition known as atherosclerosis. If a blood clot forms and blocks one of these narrowed arteries, a heart attack or stroke can result." [1] https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ldl_hdl.htm https://www.cdc.gov/cholesterol/ldl_hdl.htm [2] https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cholesterol https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/cholesterol/about-cho...
    - jononomo 4y ago
      Frankly I don't believe that statins are necessary in 99.9% of cases and I think that people focus far too simplistically on cholesterol. I can remember that days before the HDL/LDL distinction. Now it turns out that moderately high LDL is not necessarily bad if it not accompanied by other negative risk factors (obese, pre-diabetic, etc). The fact of the matter is that there is a single diet that is ideal for all humans, just as is the case with every other animal species on the planet. Homo Sapiens are obligate carnivores and we do best when eliminating all plant-based material from our diet. And we certainly don't find heart disease in the indigenous populations that follow an entirely carnivorous diet, such as the Maasai and the Inuit, unless they have adopted a more plant-heavy, processed-food Western-style diet. (Note that we have to "process" plant-based food, but we can just eat meat and eggs raw -- another sign that we are obligate carnivores). I agree that high cholesterol may be a problem is you're obese, as almost all Americans are, and if you don't follow a 100% carnivorous diet focusing on red meat.
adrian_b 4y ago
While I have not seen any credible study tying eggs to cancer, there are some studies which claim to have found a significant statistical correlation between a diet including many eggs and some cardiovascular diseases, independent of any influence on cholesterol.