Are Shrimp Bad For Cholesterol

Maintaining Healthy Cholesterol Levels

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults have their blood cholesterol levels checked every four to six years. More frequent testing may be recommended if you have a family history of heart disease, are overweight or have type 2 diabetes.

Healthy blood cholesterol levels according to the CDC are:

• Total cholesterol of less than 200 mg/dL

• LDL cholesterol of less than 100 mg/dL

• HDL cholesterol levels greater than 40

  mg/dL

There are many lifestyle changes you can make to prevent high cholesterol. Obesity raises LDL cholesterol levels in the body. A doctor can help you determine a healthy weight and develop a diet and fitness plan to reach your goals. Smoking and drinking too much alcohol can also increase the risk of developing high cholesterol.

Men tend to have higher cholesterol levels than women and a woman’s chances for developing high cholesterol increases when she is over the age of 55. Other risk factors for high cholesterol, according to the CDC include:

• Type 2 diabetes
• Familial hypercholesterolemia, a rare medical condition
• Family history of high cholesterol

Benefits Of Eating Shrimp

Information developed by nutritionist Dr. Rosemary Stanton Ph.D., APD a most well-known celebrity nutritionist in Australia for the Australian Prawn Farmers Association , report that shrimp are an excellent source of protein, low in saturated fats, a great way to get iron, zinc and Vitamin E, as well as a good source of omega-3 fatty acids.

These valuable fats lower triglyceride levels and have many other benefits for heart health. Shrimp have less fat and therefore contain a lower level of omega 3s than some other seafood , but the omega 3 content in prawns is well above the minimum 60mg/100g required for an official label of good source of omega 3 fatty acids.

Information from The George Mateljan Foundation a not-for-profit foundation with the mission is to help you eat and cook the healthiest way for optimal health provides a wealth of information on the numerous benefits of eating shrimp. For example, shrimp is an excellent source of the antioxidant mineral selenium . Recent research has shown that the selenium in shrimp can be well absorbed into the human body . Selenium deficiency is a risk factor for heart failure and other forms of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, compromised cognitive function, and depression.

The True Facts About Shellfish And High Cholesterol

Are Shrimp, Prawns and Shellfish High in Cholesterol?

Prawn and shrimp are technically different species. In common usage, the terms are often used interchangeably, although they can also be used to categorize size shrimp smaller, prawns bigger.

Shrimp makes up a full 25% of the entire seafood consumption in the United States. Prawns and shrimp are also considered delicious seafood items in other countries. Worldwide, shrimp is the most frequently traded seafood, and along with prawns and other types of seafood, delivers a healthy form of protein that is also low in calories.

From a culinary and dietary perspective, and for the purposes of this article, any differences are small enough to be irrelevant. From here on, shrimp also means prawns.

Don’t Miss: Does Tuna Have High Cholesterol

Heart Beat: Shellfish For The Heart

Fish is good for the heart, especially fatty fish like salmon and sardines. What about shellfish? Shrimp, lobster, clams, scallops, crayfish, and the like deliver smaller amounts of heart-healthy omega-3 fats than finfish. They also tend to be higher in cholesterol. A study from the Medical University of South Carolina suggests that shellfish certainly aren’t bad for the heart. But they may not offer the same protection against cardiac arrest and coronary artery disease as finfish.

The researchers came to this conclusion by looking at the onset of heart disease in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. People who ate shellfish at least once a week were just as likely to have had a heart attack, needed a procedure to open or bypass blocked arteries, or died of a heart condition as those who ate shellfish only a few times a month and those who never ate shellfish .

To continue reading this article, you must log in.

• Research health conditions
• Prepare for a doctor’s visit or test
• Find the best treatments and procedures for you
• Explore options for better nutrition and exercise

The Nutritional Value & The Cholesterol Concern Regarding Shrimps

Shrimps are a rich source of proteins, vitamin B12, potassium, sodium, calcium and iron depending on how much you consume however, shrimp does account for 189 mg of cholesterol for every 100 grams of its serving which on the surface, seems like a cause for concern. Bearing the cholesterol content of shrimp in mind many people find themselves asking the question is shrimp bad for cholesterol? The summarized response to this query is an emphatic NO. Eating shrimp is actually good for your cholesterol however, this article aims to further elaborate on this subject. Read on to know more.

You May Like: High Triglyceride Diet Mayo Clinic

Are Shrimp Bad For You A Study On Shrimp And Cholesterol

Shrimp are often given a bad rap for their high cholesterol content. Although it is true that shrimp are relatively high in cholesterol , scientific research on shrimp and blood cholesterol levels suggests that shrimp may not be that bad for you, after all.

Steamed shrimp, which is naturally low in fat, can be safely included in heart-healthy diets for people without lipid problems, conclude scientists from The Rockefeller University and the Harvard School of Public Health in a report published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Eat Seafood The Healthy Way

Higher levels of sodium and cholesterol in some “fish without fins” raise special health concerns for older men.

Advice about healthy nutrition always seems to end with the refrain “and try to eat fish twice a week.” But taste preferences, cost, and proper preparation present barriers. “If you like fish and you enjoy it, trying to get it once or twice a week is a good thing, but it may not be feasible,” says Dr. Helen Delichatsios, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

To continue reading this article, you must log in.

• Research health conditions
• Prepare for a doctor’s visit or test
• Find the best treatments and procedures for you
• Explore options for better nutrition and exercise

You May Like: Are Potatoes High In Cholesterol

Risks And Benefits Of Seafood

Adding seafood to your diet may actually help improve your blood cholesterol levels. A study published in the November 2017 edition of Atherosclerosis found that consuming oily fish increased the “good”HDL cholesterol levels in the blood.

Seafood is a good protein source full of nutrients. It is especially known for having high omega-3 fatty acid content including both EPA and DHA, which decreases the risk of heart disease. The USDA recommends that adults eat eight ounces of seafood each week. Seafood may contain the heavy metal mercury, however, the health benefits of fish outweigh the risks of mercury consumption, advises the USDA.

Some low-mercury seafood options include:

• Atlantic mackerel and Pacific mackerel

• Salmon

Read more: Which Fish Has the Highest and Lowest Mercury Levels?

Dietary Cholesterol And Heart Disease

Dietary cholesterol is only found in animal-based products. This includes meat and seafood, egg yolks and dairy products, including milk. It was once believed that eating foods high in cholesterol would raise the cholesterol levels in your body an increase your risk of cardiovascular disease. However, studies have not shown any link between dietary cholesterol and cardiovascular disease, notes Dr. Ghada Soliman in her review published in the June 2018 edition of Nutrients.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines recommended limiting cholesterol to 300 milligrams per day. However, due to the lack of evidence that dietary cholesterol has negative health effects, this recommendation has been removed from the USDA’s current 2015 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

There is a correlation between saturated fats and cardiovascular disease and saturated fats have been shown to increase your LDL cholesterol levels, advises Colorado State University Extension. Since many foods that are high in saturated fats are also high in cholesterol, it is a good idea to limit your intake of these foods. The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends getting less than 10 percent of your calories from saturated fats.

Read more: The Truth About How Your Diet Affects Your Cholesterol

Don’t Miss: Cholesterol Level In Shrimp

Buying Shrimp And Scallops

When shopping for shrimp, look for:

• Flesh that’s transparent, not cloudy
• A sweet scent of fresh seawater
• Fresh-caught or frozen, wild-caught

If a package of shrimp smells fishy or like ammonia or bleach, do not use it.

Scallops in grocery stores are usually wet-packed. That means they’re shucked on a boat and put in cold water to preserve them longer. They should be:

• White
• Slightly moist
• Not shredded or mangled

Packaging should be firmly closed and not allow for any odor to escape. Much like shrimp, they should not smell fishy or have an ammonia- or bleach-like odor.

In general, look for shellfish that are clean, covered in ice, and smell like the ocean. If they have shells, like clams or oysters, the shells should be closed.

Shrimp And Dietary Cholesterol

Cholesterol from food has a negative impact only if it is absorbed, and saturated fat seems to assist absorption. Eating food with a highly saturated fat content raises the LDL cholesterol. Most high cholesterol foods are also high in saturated fat and increase LDL. Shrimp have a relatively high level of cholesterol but have essentially no saturated fat . And the cholesterol in shrimp is harder to absorb than that from other high fat foods, although the reasons are not known.

At the very least, it is fair enough to say that the cholesterol in shrimp and other seafood is unlikely to damage the arteries provided the seafood is not battered or crumbed and cooked in saturated fat.

In the past, scientists could not differentiate the different sterols and measured them all as cholesterol. This is why the amount of cholesterol in shrimp and other shellfish was reported as very high. The cholesterol in shrimp is approximately 130 mg per 3 ounces of raw shrimp, or about 12 large shrimp, and with only 2 grams of fat. The amount of cholesterol in a comparable portion of regular ground beef is about 110 mg, with approximately 20 grams of fat. And shrimp have high levels of beneficial highly unsaturated fatty acids, which raise HDL cholesterol levels, so eating shrimp may actually lower blood cholesterol levels.

Don’t Miss: Beer Effect On Cholesterol

Debunking The Cholesterol Myth

Recently published research debunks the common myth that that eating prawns raises cholesterol levels in the blood and therefore can increase the risk of heart disease.

The study, headed by University of Surrey Professor Bruce Griffin, showed that prawn consumption had absolutely no effect on the blood cholesterol levels of the healthy males participating in the trial. The participants ate 225 grams of coldwater prawns daily for 12 weeks, while a control group consumed the equivalent weight of fish in the form of imitation crab, or surimi. The two groups then swapped diets for another 12 weeks.

The prawns and imitation crab were matched in terms of total energy and nutrient content but, importantly, the prawn diet contained nearly four times the dietary cholesterol of the control groups diet. Blood samples were taken at the beginning and end of the study to determine any changes to blood cholesterol levels.

At the conclusion of the trial, Griffin said, The study found that the consumption of prawns produced no significant effects on the blood cholesterol level relative to the control, or within each intervention group over time. There was also no significant effect on LDL cholesterol levels compared with the control group.

Dietary cholesterol is present in all crustacean shellfish, not just prawns, as well as in squid, octopus and cuttlefish. However, despite containing some cholesterol, they contain very little fat, whereas red meat typically has a high fat content.

This Can Also Help In What Research Reveals:

The research was undertaken by Dr. Elizabeth D Oleivera D Silva and colleagues at the Rockefeller University in 1996. In the study, 18 individuals, both men and women, were put on a shrimp-based diet for a week. During the week, they were fed 10 ounces of shrimp every day for three weeks, 10 ounces of shrimp roughly corresponds to 600 mg of cholesterol.

Followed by the shrimp diet, the same set of individuals were put on an egg-based diet, in which they were fed 2 eggs per day for 3 weeks.

On a rotational basis, the individuals were then put on a low cholesterol diet for another 3 weeks.

At the end of the three weeks, the shrimp-based diet was found to have raised the LDL level by 7% compared to the low cholesterol diet. The High-Density Lipoprotein , known as good cholesterol, the level was raised by 12% in the individuals, and strikingly the level of triglyceride was observed to have fallen by 13%.

This indicated that shrimps have a positive impact on heart and cholesterol levels. It increased the HDL and the triglyceride level by a combined 25% and a net betterment of 18%.

A study of 2015 reveals that a lower HDL level is associated with inflammation of the heart. Hence a higher level of HDL is always desirable and individuals susceptible to heart disease.

The egg diet had the most concerning outcome, where the LDL level was raised by 10%, and the HDL level was increased by only 8%.

Also Check: Can Coffee Reduce Cholesterol

The Nutrition Profile Of Shrimp:

Shrimp is one of the most widely consumed shellfish across the globe. It is not only appealing to the taste but also enriched in many vital nutrients like iodine that are otherwise not abundantly available in any other natural food source.

Apart from the abundance of iodine, shrimp also contains protein, selenium, vitamin B12, iron, phosphorus, niacin, zinc, and magnesium.

It also contains a good amount of omega 6 and omega 3 fatty acids and antioxidants like astaxanthin which has some significant health benefits, preventing inflammation and strengthening arteries thus reducing the chance of stroke and heart attacks.

It has a contribution to improving brain health by prevention of degenerative diseases and memory loss that can eventually lead to Alzheimers disease.

The antioxidant astaxanthin present in shrimp is also known to be able to remove free radicals from the system, thus preventing cell damage. This reduces the chance of many recurring chronic diseases and thus promoting general good health.

Is Shrimp Healthy Nutrition Calories And More

Shrimp is one of the most commonly consumed types of shellfish.

It is quite nutritious and provides high amounts of certain nutrients, such as iodine, that arent abundant in many other foods.

On the other hand, some people claim that shrimp is unhealthy due to its high cholesterol content.

Additionally, it is commonly believed that farm-raised shrimp may have some negative health effects compared to wild-caught shrimp.

This article will explore the evidence to determine if shrimp is a healthy food to include in your diet.

You May Like: Does Shrimp Has Cholesterol

How Often Can You Eat Shrimp

The AHA recommends consuming foods high in omega-3 fatty acids twice a week, although shrimp may not be a good choice for those servings if you have high cholesterol. However, if your cholesterol levels are normal, you can eat shrimp every week without worrying too much about affecting your LDL levels, says Aggie Casey, author of Mind Your Heart.

Antibiotic Use In Farm

Due to the high demand for shrimp in the US, it is often imported from other countries.

More than 80% of the shrimp consumed in the US comes from abroad, from countries such as Thailand, India and Indonesia .

Although this helps increase access to shrimp, most imported shrimp is farm-raised, which means it is grown in industrial tanks that are submerged in bodies of water .

Farm-raised seafood from other countries is frequently treated with antibiotics due to its high susceptibility to disease. However, the US does not permit the use of antibiotics in shrimp and other shellfish .

For this reason, it is illegal to import shrimp that contains antibiotics. The US Food and Drug Administration is responsible for inspecting imported shrimp to ensure it doesnt contain antibiotics .

However, due to the high volume of shrimp imports, the FDA is unable to regulate all of them. Because of this, farm-raised shrimp contaminated with antibiotics has the potential to enter the US food supply .

One study that investigated the antibiotic content of US-purchased seafood found that a sample of farm-raised shrimp contained a detectable amount of sulfadimethoxine, an antibiotic not permitted for use in shrimp in the US .

Using antibiotics in shrimp has not been confirmed to have any major adverse health effects. However, it may lead to antibiotic resistance, which can cause outbreaks of disease that do not respond to antibiotic treatment .

Recommended Reading: Are Mussels High In Cholesterol

Shellfish: Good Or Bad

Doctors and other health experts used to warn folks away from clams, shrimp, crab and other shellfish because they were too high in cholesterol. Turns out that shellfish can still be a tasty part of a heart-healthy diet.

What Are Shellfish?

When someone says “shellfish,” they usually mean clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, shrimp, crab and lobster. Ranging in size, species and price, these sea creatures are served raw, steamed, grilled, baked or fried in various cuisines around the world.

Bad Reputation

When we started zeroing in on cholesterol in our food, shellfish made it on the do-not-eat list. Nutrition analysis has since revealed that this seafood doesnt contain as much cholesterol as we once believed.

Shellfish contain a combination of dietary cholesterol and similar compounds called sterols, which wont negatively affect your heart. Since its okay to get some cholesterol from food, enjoying sensible portions of lobster, shrimp or other shellfish is fine — even if youre watching your cholesterol.

Of course, it’s common to dip shellfish, especially lobster, in melted butter. Well, that will certainly increase the unhealthy fats and negatively impact your diet. Instead, opt for freshly squeezed lemon juice or dip your shellfish pieces in some cocktail sauce.

Good News for Seafood Lovers

Healthy shellfish recipes: