High Cholesterol Foods

High cholesterol foods are those products that come from animals, including fatty red meat, egg yolks, butter, cheese, and whole milk. Foods that are high in saturated fats and trans fat (such as coconut oil) can also raise your level of LDL (bad) cholesterol, so, in a way, they have a similar effect on your body as eating high cholesterol foods.

 

High Cholesterol Foods: An Overview

Knowing where high cholesterol foods come from is an important step in limiting the high cholesterol foods you eat. But it does not stop there, because there are a number of other foods that may not be considered "high cholesterol foods" but that still raise your LDL cholesterol ("bad" cholesterol) more than high cholesterol foods do.
 

High Cholesterol Foods: Natural Sources of Cholesterol

Cholesterol comes from animals. If a food does not come from an animal (such as a fruit or vegetable), then it does not have cholesterol. The highest of high cholesterol foods are eggs and liver. An egg yolk has 213 mg of cholesterol.
 
Some other high cholesterol foods include:
 
  • Whole-milk dairy products
  • Butter
  • Cream
  • Ice cream
  • Cream cheese
  • Certain shellfish, such as shrimp
  • Other organ meats, such as kidney and brain
  • Duck and goose (which have more cholesterol than chicken or turkey; the skin on these animals is high in cholesterol).
     

Foods High in Fat and Their Effect on High Cholesterol

When looking at
 cholesterol levels in the body, eating high cholesterol foods is just part of the equation. Actually, for most people, the main cause of high blood cholesterol is eating too much of certain types of fat. Saturated fat and trans fatty acid (also known as trans fat) are types of fat that raise your cholesterol levels.
(High Cholesterol Foods Continued: Page 2)
Add this article to your Favorites     Email this article     Print
Written by/reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Last reviewed by: Arthur Schoenstadt, MD
Other Articles in This eMedTV Presentation