Geek girl.
Why are triglycerides listed as an ingredient in some foods/drinks?
- Thread starter Cooking4Fun
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I resemble that remark!
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
This is a fascinating conversation. One detail on which I have personal experience - bile is reabsorbed into the bloodstream in the ileum (part of the small intestine). I know this because I don't have one lol When bile gets to the large intestine, it causes great irritation, pain and diarrhea. I had to take a medicine that binds to bile until my colon was removed and that problem was alleviated.I was under the impression that cholesterol doesn't exit through the digestion pathway and that cholesterol is recycled and disposed of by the liver to make bile which helps breakdown fats in the small intestines and when that's accomplished the excess bile and any excess cholesterol is excreted in our feces. I would be really interested if you can link a study about fiber removing LDL cholesterol from the intestines that's not associated with bile.
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pictonguy
Sous Chef
Hey, thanks Kathleen it's exciting that we have someone that has a scientific understanding of these mechanisms.Well....okay. Y'all asked for it. I took it to PMs because the topic was rapidly expanding. Here is part of what I sent to pictonguy. I'm not trying to hide it. But those here who know me also know what a geek I can be.
***** snip, snip ************
There is no one study. The Harvard medical group and the National Institute of Health are pumping out study after study on the studies of soluble fiber and LDL, and have been for years. Since 2019, many others have followed suit. Medical journals have been flooded with information in the past few years, so a simple search about soluble fiber, LDL and intestines will yield much for you to enjoy. It's not one study. It's many many may studies.
So there are two topics now, which is why I decided to go to PMs: Liver and its role in making/removing LDL and other fats is one. The other is the role of soluble fiber in the intestines. Both the liver and intestines will make LDL and other types of CHOL. When you mentioned the liver as opposed to the intestines removing items as waste, I thought I would send you this link as I found it awesome, and would welcome your thoughts. It even explains why people have those hefty fatty poos after huge fat/carb heavy meals.
******** snip, snip******
Yes. Hefty. Fatty. Poos.
As I said above: Y'all asked for it.
The link you sent me focused on dietary fiber and how that may reduce the uptake of cholesterol, which is well known, no doubt about that, they've been talking about that since the 80's. I was more interested in your remarks about how the intestines manufacture cholesterol along with the liver. I found that interesting and did a bit of digging and found this and suspect dietary fiber can help eliminate more cholesterol otherwise destined to be reabsorbed.
https://med.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Anatomy_and_Physiology/Anatomy_and_Physiology_(Boundless)/23:_Nutrition_and_Metabolism/23.8:_Metabolism_and_the_Liver/23.8A:_Cholesterol_Metabolism
The authors of the study you linked decided to phrase it as an "opportunity for a global control of hyperlipidemia." while I understand that if your a researcher that have spend probably a decade to advance their careers obtaining PhD's in their particular field of study I think that "hyperlipidemia" needs more context, which gets to the point I was trying to make when it came to someones overall health status.
Hyperlipidemia doesn't exist in a vacuum while it can be genetic of course and apparently effects around 1% of the population, lifestyle decisions do effect this condition. Pretty much without exception this population will have other metabolic dysfunctions that do effect this state and the more of those symptoms the more risk the person has of developing hyperlipidemia.
Common symptoms are low HDL, high triglycerides, obesity, insulin resistance, diabetes, high LDL, high blood pressure and without these additional health risks it appears that the risk is pretty low, but not zero according to NHANES data.
Basically my thought on this is it's to our advantage to try and consume a whole food diet as much as possible and this doesn't mean to totally eliminate those really tasty sugary morsels of goodness, just to keep them in moderation as well as some type of sport or exercise daily and lift some weight, especially for us older people like me because sarcopenia is not going to be our friend, try to be within a reasonable BMI or a reasonable waist measurement for our height and of course keep busy and get a good nights sleep. Oh, and embrace our big poos from extra fiber. Your thoughts.
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GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
If anyone is interested in a layman's discussion of how the digestive system works, this is a wonderful book. It's informative as well as entertaining.
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach.
Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach.
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pictonguy
Sous Chef
Ok Kathleen, I just want to expand of the intestines producing cholesterol narrative a little. Did a little more research and it appears, apparently, the intestines manufacture cholesteryl esters which end up as part of the chylomicrons that distribute mostly triglycerides (dietary fats) and some cholesterol from the intestines to other parts of the body and most of the trigs go muscle and heart tissue for ATP (energy) and to adipose tissue (body fat) where it's stored as energy and the rest is taken up by the liver to be cleared by the blood. I understood that chylomicrons were cleared pretty quickly, generally within a few hours but now this make it clearer for me as to the why. Do I have this right, or am i missing something.
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Kathleen
Cupcake
Bile is an interesting fluid. In addition to bile acids, it contains CHOL, metals, some lipids, and waste products from hemoglobin. (I'd have to look up the name of the waste product.) A few years back, I was getting nauseous at seemingly random times. No pain or anything, just needed to purge at times. After chalking it up to nerves, bad food, etc., I ended up at a doctor's office who said, "I bet you have gallstones." I protested because I had no other symptoms. No pain. No fever. Nausea was random and not after eating, etc. Come to find out my gallbladder was loaded with gallstones made up of primarily crystalized bile. The gallbladder came out. About the same time, a friend of mine had lost his gallbladder and would cry about 'no more fatty foods. no more Italian subs. no more, etc. etc. etc." After the gallbladder, he really had to watch what he ate. For me, there seemed little change other than occasionally my body would say time to flush the system (meaning many trips to the potty) but that is very rare. The biggest issue I had was that they would not let me have my gallstones. I seriously wanted them to see what they looked like. The doctor said, "What are you going to do with them?" I replied that I wanted to look at them and, when done, polish them up to see whether I may want one set in a necklace." So much for that, I guess.
I cannot imagine the pain you experienced with the irritation of your intestines and am so glad you no longer have it with the colon removal. Recently, I was made aware of how common bile issues were and how often people have their colon removed. It seems to be more and more common with younger people. I wondered about why. Thoughts?
Also, the book sounds fun. I'm always looking for good books like that to read and it is on my list! Thanks!
The chylomicrons clear pretty fast. They are the reason you need the 12 hours of fasting prior to getting a lipid panel. I am curious about the chylomicrons and do not know the chemistry behind them as much as I do the structure of triglycerides. From my understanding, they have three stages where they undergo changes at each stage. In the third stage, the liver identifies the changes and knows to break them down to eliminate. Some issues with the chylomicrons can cause significant troubles, which I learned when reading about another disease that I thought was completely unrelated. It's the postprandial hyperlipidemia that is thought to be the major factor of cardio-vascular disease. Hypo and hyperchylomicronemia reading caused me to break out my old textbooks. I think your understanding matches mine for the most part, but I am no expert by a long shot. I read a lot to try to keep healthy as do many here. And I love to read the science behind it.
Sarcopenia is definitely NOT my friend. Another thread as I am certain that it is a subject that would be of interest to many!
I had horrible symptoms off and on for about a year before having my gall bladder removed. Every few months I had bloating, nausea, and pain, sometimes vomiting. I always felt fine the next day. The doctor who read my ultrasound and CT scans when I had the really bad episode that landed me in the ER called them gall boulders. There were only 2 but they were huge. Great thing is I went to the ER at 4 a.m., was diagnosed around 6 a.m., had surgery at 2:30 p.m. (at an affiliated hospital about 10 miles from the 1st), and was home that evening by 7:30 p.m. I was back to work 4 days later. I was told I'd have to watch eating fatty foods etc. and I was careful for the 1st week just to be safe, but butter, cream, cheese, etc. gave me no trouble at all so I went back to my regular diet. Very happy about that as I love my dairy!
last time I had an ultrasound check-up, about 3/4's of the way thru - I suddenly realized technician was going back and forth and around in the same area - and then I remembered to tell her - I don't have a gall bladder. Whew! she said, I was really beginning to get frustrated!
Cooking Goddess
Chef Extraordinaire
And here I always thought it was because my doctor was being mean.
Kathleen
Cupcake
Yesterday, I happened across this article in Eating Well magazine. It could have been a post within this conversation even though it is more geared toward insulin resistant! I really like barley but have not used it much in years. I should look into more recipes with it.
pictonguy
Sous Chef
It's all related Kathleen, blood sugar, carbs, trigs, insulin resistance, diabetes that kind of thing. I personally liked the chewiness and taste of barley, I miss it a little, but only a little, lol.
I really to have to make some beef and barley soup! Perfect for this rainy weather.
I always refer to my doctor as "that mean lady" when I am at the office.And here I always thought it was because my doctor was being mean.
Cooking4Fun
Senior Cook
My initial question wasn't about why too many triglycerides are bad. I think everyone knows that they are. I was asking what chemical purpose adding them as an ingredient in food would have.
pictonguy
Sous Chef
Ok, I think I got to the bottom of this. One of the ingredients in that product is called glycerol of rosin, which is a food additive and is added to food, beverages and cosmetics derived from the root of pine trees and it stabilizes and thickens oil in water.
A triglyceride has a glycerol backbone where 3 fatty acids are attached and when these are broken down through a process called lipolysis from an enzyme called lipase the body then uses the fatty acids mostly for energy and the glycerol can be used for a process called gluconeogenesis which is basically the formation of new glucose and this happens mostly in times of fasting or food scarcity simply because there are certain needs like in the muscle and brain where they can only function on glucose. Basically when we don't eat glucose (aka carbs) the body will make its own by breaking down glycerol from the actual triglyceride whether that be the fats we consume or the stored fat in our body, a survival mechanism I talked about previously.
Ok, back to Gatorade zero. So, the glycerol of rosin as a byproduct will produce triglycerides by default of that lipase decoupling and it's basically showing up as an ingredient, simply a byproduct of that chemical process. that's my take on it anyway. Maybe Kathleen can comment considering her forte are triglycerides.
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Cooking4Fun
Senior Cook
I can't be sure Gatorade could taste that bad without any added sweeteners. Lots of stuff say no sugar, but there's always something else to get around the technicality. Maybe sports drinks should be the electrolytes formula only, and offer instructions to add apple juice or something more natural to add sweet.
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