Vegetable oils such as safflower, corn, soybean, cottonseed, sesame, and sunflower oils are good sources of polyunsaturated fats. According to the report, Americans should slightly increase their intake of unsaturated fats. According to USDA survey data, the average daily intake of dietary cholesterol is 304 milligrams for women and 435 milligrams for men. Mixed Messages Cholesterol is now a household word. In their weekly trips down supermarket aisles, grocery store shoppers can't escape messages about low cholesterol.
Children come home with warnings about cholesterol from school health classes.
Many runners and walkers and just about anyone who regularly lifts weights in a fitness center can recite their blood cholesterol level as automatically as their birth date. The problem is that, just as understanding of the links between diet, high blood cholesterol, and coronary heart disease has evolved slowly, so has our scientific understanding about the effects of different nutrients on blood cholesterol levels progressed slowly. Oat bran became an immediate hit in the late 1980s as scientific studies, such as a 1986 project from Northwestern University, seemed to show this soluble fiber could lower blood cholesterol levels. Dietary fiber became an issue, as researchers questioned how oat bran affects blood cholesterol levels. Along with the amount of fiber they ate, participants reduced their consumption of foods high in fat and dietary cholesterol.