Cholesterol content in Protein shakes

[HeXen]

I've seen quite a few that had, what seems to me to be very high levels of cholesterol, often over 120mg's per scoop. My blood tests shows I've been around the 200 max normal level for a while now despite my diet and wanting to get it lower. Recently added potent plant sterols, coq10, Red yeast rice extract...etc to my suppliments

On work weeks, I replaced my breakfast and lunch meals with shakes so I can more easily monitor my calorie deficit for evening meals and wanted to go for sustained release blends for the slower digestion rate for my lunch, possibly mix with isolate but some of the stuff I've looked at...just not sure if they'll do more harm than good. I've been on Muscle Milk for quite a while just because it's so commonly found and has lower cholesterol than others I've looked at but of course I know it's not ideal but I like the taste of it and beats eating McD's..

However are shakes with more than a few mg's of cholesterol going to be a problem for me?

Also, can someone point me to some comparative sites that aren't advertisements? So many of these review sites just come off as a big advert.

 

[Pantlegz]

onnit.com has hemp protein which should be cholesterol free. I'm also a huge fan of truenutrition.com which has plant based protein powders too. The latter being a bit less expensive, especially if you buy in bulk and/or use discount codes. (If you don't mind using mine BDJ858)

Keep in mind there is no link solid link between cholesterol and heart problems that I'm aware of and most(2 out of 3) people aren't affected by dietary cholesterol so there's a chance that making a change wont effect your blood work. I'm not saying ignore your cholesterol or your doctor but it you're otherwise healthy being a little high might not be the end of the world. But in my experience eating a lot of leafy greens is the best way to get cholesterol down if it's a concern and changing proteins doesn't get the result you're looking for.

 

[bradley]

The misguided war on cholesterol has maimed and killed so many innocents. Anyway dietary cholesterol is only 20% of the equation, irrespective of the 80% our livers create. Lipids like cholesterol are responsible for keeping trillions of cell membranes pliable and strong. How did we allow modern medicine to make cholesterol a villain?

You want to worry about something make it oxidation and normalizing liver health. Like how about eating more fibrous and choline rich foods. I'd also add granulated lecithin to your list and eliminate the statin-derivative red yeast rice extract.

 

[Zivic]

I've seen quite a few that had, what seems to me to be very high levels of cholesterol, often over 120mg's per scoop. My blood tests shows I've been around the 200 max normal level for a while now despite my diet and wanting to get it lower. Recently added potent plant sterols, coq10, Red yeast rice extract...etc to my suppliments

On work weeks, I replaced my breakfast and lunch meals with shakes so I can more easily monitor my calorie deficit for evening meals and wanted to go for sustained release blends for the slower digestion rate for my lunch, possibly mix with isolate but some of the stuff I've looked at...just not sure if they'll do more harm than good. I've been on Muscle Milk for quite a while just because it's so commonly found and has lower cholesterol than others I've looked at but of course I know it's not ideal but I like the taste of it and beats eating McD's..

However are shakes with more than a few mg's of cholesterol going to be a problem for me?

Also, can someone point me to some comparative sites that aren't advertisements? So many of these review sites just come off as a big advert.

it's my understanding that cholesterol in your blood means very little in and of itself. Cholesterol should flow freely through your arteries. it isn't until the lining of the artery wall's become damaged does the 'bad' cholesterol have a chance to build up.

having high cholesterol is just one of many factors to consider in your overall health in relation to heart disease. if you aren't fat, your blood pressure is OK, your diet is in check and eating a variety of foods, you get regular exercise, and have stress levels in check, I wouldn't worry too much about your cholesterol level being at 200

 

[HeXen]

onnit.com has hemp protein which should be cholesterol free. I'm also a huge fan of truenutrition.com which has plant based protein powders too. The latter being a bit less expensive, especially if you buy in bulk and/or use discount codes. (If you don't mind using mine BDJ858)

Keep in mind there is no link solid link between cholesterol and heart problems that I'm aware of and most(2 out of 3) people aren't affected by dietary cholesterol so there's a chance that making a change wont effect your blood work. I'm not saying ignore your cholesterol or your doctor but it you're otherwise healthy being a little high might not be the end of the world. But in my experience eating a lot of leafy greens is the best way to get cholesterol down if it's a concern and changing proteins doesn't get the result you're looking for.

Thanks, never heard of hemp protein, doesn't sound too common though. I eat a lot of salads with low calorie dressing for evening meals. Since I rarely eat meats outside of chicken on the weekends, I figured Protein shakes would be a better option as apposed to other kinds for use during the work week...seems to work for me so far, I feel great.

it's my understanding that cholesterol in your blood means very little in and of itself. Cholesterol should flow freely through your arteries. it isn't until the lining of the artery wall's become damaged does the 'bad' cholesterol have a chance to build up.

having high cholesterol is just one of many factors to consider in your overall health in relation to heart disease. if you aren't fat, your blood pressure is OK, your diet is in check and eating a variety of foods, you get regular exercise, and have stress levels in check, I wouldn't worry too much about your cholesterol level being at 200

Thanks, I think it was the RN that made a big deal about it on my report, she circled it in red ink with all capitals and she had this attitude on my answering machine about it...not sure what her deal is but I felt like I was back in HS and getting an F on a test lol. It was 207, up from 197 just six months prior...so it did raise and at the time I was on a high fiber diet kick so not sure what sparked the rise but everyone always told me you go down hill pretty fast after you turn 40 and I'm almost there now, so I'm on a preventative kick.

But I did need to cut out any fried foods anyway, even threw away my deep fryer, replaced it with an Air Fryer. I already had cut out soda's and sugars a couple years back, then later with cutting on salt and move to whole grains so figure I should work on keeping saturated fat and calories in check.

And honestly, it's getting very hard to shop at the grocery and find anything. Even health food shops have products loaded with sodium and sugars. Either I suck it up or cook from scratch but I really don't have the time.

 

[bradley]

it's my understanding that cholesterol in your blood means very little in and of itself. Cholesterol should flow freely through your arteries. it isn't until the lining of the artery wall's become damaged does the 'bad' cholesterol have a chance to build up.

having high cholesterol is just one of many factors to consider in your overall health in relation to heart disease. if you aren't fat, your blood pressure is OK, your diet is in check and eating a variety of foods, you get regular exercise, and have stress levels in check, I wouldn't worry too much about your cholesterol level being at 200

Yeah I agree. I mean cholesterol numbers (especially relating to particle size) are an indicator of liver health over any correlation to actual cholesterol intake.

And cholesterol is a main component of bile production; the liver produces a quart on average a day. When that all important process stops flowing, your liver and gallbladder build up fetid oxidized gunk. Although cholesterol is the main way the arteries repair along with collagen synthesis. So without either cholesterol or glycine and proline in ample supply, you stop existing.

 

[OverVolt]

The problem is likely nitrosamines in powdered protein products more so than the actual dietary cholesterol. Not that powdered dried cholesterol sounds all that good for you to begin with.

Those guys who drink alot of protein shakes randomly have heart attacks at 40 for a reason.

The lining of cans has BPA in it AFAIK. So if you're on a canned liquid diet, that could be doing arterial damage as well. BPA is known to temporarily boost BP.

You know you should probably just eat normal food.

 

[HeXen]

The problem is likely nitrosamines in powdered protein products more so than the actual dietary cholesterol. Not that powdered dried cholesterol sounds all that good for you to begin with.

Those guys who drink alot of protein shakes randomly have heart attacks at 40 for a reason.

The lining of cans has BPA in it AFAIK. So if you're on a canned liquid diet, that could be doing arterial damage as well. BPA is known to temporarily boost BP.

You know you should probably just eat normal food.

Don't use cans but in the case of normal food, it seems to me normal food these days is just processed food. My area is what's considered as a food desert meaning lack of healthy alternatives, it really is not easy to find much in any grocery store here that isn't processed and even lean cuts of meat is very rare to find including articles in local paper raising questionable concerns about some of the local butcher shops. The veggies...according to whatever source you pick, is full of containments and metals as much as the protein shakes are, the labs show fish has too much mercury than it's supposed to, the meats is injected with too much brine....it never ends, just depends which lab result you want to look at.

I just wanted to check what importance the cholesterol content in them was considering how high so many are. I think next time I'll just order my powders online, can't find much variety locally and GNC is a rip off.

 

[Ancalagon44]

Who cares? Even the USDA dietary guidelines don't worry about cholesterol anymore, so why should you?

 

[OverVolt]

Don't use cans but in the case of normal food, it seems to me normal food these days is just processed food. My area is what's considered as a food desert meaning lack of healthy alternatives, it really is not easy to find much in any grocery store here that isn't processed and even lean cuts of meat is very rare to find including articles in local paper raising questionable concerns about some of the local butcher shops. The veggies...according to whatever source you pick, is full of containments and metals as much as the protein shakes are, the labs show fish has too much mercury than it's supposed to, the meats is injected with too much brine....it never ends, just depends which lab result you want to look at.

I just wanted to check what importance the cholesterol content in them was considering how high so many are. I think next time I'll just order my powders online, can't find much variety locally and GNC is a rip off.

Yea and lots of people are sick too, almost like its related

My suggestion is to eat more rice & poultry. I actually eat quite a bit like you, my best options are all big box store food in a box shit. The only way for me to eat healthy is frozen vegetables, poultry and rice.

Maybe pick through the yogurt section and find the ones lowest in cholesterol. Basically the same macro-nutrients as whey, just... an actual food .

 

[Zivic]

The problem is likely nitrosamines in powdered protein products more so than the actual dietary cholesterol. Not that powdered dried cholesterol sounds all that good for you to begin with.

Those guys who drink alot of protein shakes randomly have heart attacks at 40 for a reason.

.

I would say a person drinking a lot of protein shakes likely is overweight, and further might be a steroid user, which can increase his chances of heart disease.

 

[blackdogdeek]

My area is what's considered as a food desert meaning lack of healthy alternatives, it really is not easy to find much in any grocery store here that isn't processed and even lean cuts of meat is very rare to find

I find this hard to believe. What is your zip code?

 

[HeXen]

I find this hard to believe. What is your zip code?

Straight quote from the local paper. They have quite a few articles about this lately, mostly discussing how people have to travel just to get to a major grocery and the local ones have little focus on healthy food.

‘No place to get fresh produce’
Residents, neighborhood leaders and officials all say they want to remedy Muncie’s food desert problem.

In the meantime, people like Buss and her great-grandson still brave the traffic.

Buss and thousands of others on Muncie’s northeast side are dealing with the realities of what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls a food desert.

It's quite true, the groceries in this town cater mostly to whatever sells fast. Trust me, I've looked to buy healthy products, there's veggies, some fruit but not a lot and neither Walmart nor Meijer carries anything but junk meat...it's not very good and has a lot of gristle, nearly broke a tooth more than a few times. Marsh occasionally will have some lean cuts but maybe they sell out quick? The butchers have been noted to have some questionable practices even to the extent of people taking in hogs and not getting much back in return in terms of weight but I don't mess with any of that. I could travel to New Castle, they have a Kroger but never been. Marsh and Walmart is the big grocers here. Target has a small selection but it is healthier brands including vegan food, just not a one stop shop kind of place.

Lived here all my life, it's junk food city for sure. If I want anything with fiber protein, low calories...etc, I have to go to GNC, Vitamin shoppe or a little store called Health shop or something like that.

 

[magomago]

I wouldn't consume additional cholesterol. Your body creates enough cholesterol for its use.

LOLOL at the comment that there is no link between heart disease and cholesterol.

 

[Auric]

More importantly...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...rotein-supplements-help-me-put-on-more-muscle

In a window of approximately four hours, our bodies can only use around 20 to 30 grams of protein (depending on the lean mass of each individual). Of this, a mere two grams can be used to repair muscle. Any additional protein would be burnt as energy, stored as fat or excreted in urine.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-19112549

The IGF-1 hormone (insulin-like growth factor) is one of the drivers which keep our bodies in go-go mode, with cells driven to reproduce. This is fine when you are growing, but not so good later in life.

There is now evidence suggesting that IGF-1 levels can be lowered by what you eat. Studies on calorie restrictors suggest that eating less helps, but it is not enough.

As well as cutting calories you have to cut your protein intake. Not entirely - that would be a very bad idea. It's about sticking to recommended guidelines, something most of us fail to do.

The reason seems to be that when our bodies no longer have access to food they switch from "growth mode" to "repair mode"

 

[DFWallace]

Joel Fuhrman's book, 'Eat To Live'....