A large recently published study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that adults who consumed higher amounts of cholesterol had an increased chance of dying from cardiovascular disease.   Cholesterol is thought to raise LDL (often referred to as 'bad' cholesterol) and is considered a risk for heart attack and stroke.   These results came at an interesting time since the U.S Government recently removed it's recommended restriction (300 mg/day) on cholesterol stating that 'cholesterol is no longer a food of concern for over-consumption.'   The general consensus among scientists was that cholesterol from food had little to do with what showed up in the bloodstream.   The purpose of this podcast is to take a look at and discuss the study.   What we covered:

• How the study was conducted. The research... 29, 615 ethnically diverse people were questioned about what they ate and then were followed up with over 31 years, the median was 17.5 years.
• The conclusion of the study - all things being equal, total serum cholesterol increases your chance of having cardiovascular disease.
• The flaws of the study - as you can imagine there are many things that could have been done better and more accurately in a study like this, so we take the time and discuss some of the liberties taken by researchers. The questionnaire was only completed once asking participants to recall what they ate over the last year, serum cholesterol levels were not actually measured, changes in diet were not accounted for, etc.
• We can't make recommendations on specific food choices but we will discuss whether or not this information is changing our eating styles.