Is Cholesterol in Shellfish a Concern?
The short answer: No. Shellfish is fine in moderation. The original research that estimated shellfish cholesterol levels used less sophisticated testing methods that weren’t able to distinguish between cholesterol and other sterols. As a result, cholesterol levels looked higher than they actually were.
Summary here.
Longer explanation here.
Here’s a table with the cholesterol content of various foods.
Among shellfish, shrimp, crab, and lobster tend to have the highest cholesterol levels.
Putting Things in Perspective
It’s important to note (and not well-known) that the average person’s body generates about 1000 mg of cholesterol per day from both external sources (diet) and internal sources (created by the body’s cells).
The average daily dietary cholesterol intake is ~600 mg, of which only about one-half is absorbed, or ~300 mg.
So, the typical diet only supplies less than one-third of your daily cholesterol. The rest is produced by cells in your body — about 20% by cells in your liver and the other 80% by other cells in the body. Statins work by inhibiting an enzyme that is involved in producing cholesterol in the liver.
Note that, using the table in the link above, you’d have to eat more than 3/4 lb. of shrimp or crab to take in 600 mg of cholesterol. I wouldn’t recommend eating that much regularly, but it helps to put things into perspective.
Bigger Concerns
I would be more concerned with potential toxins (heavy metals, PCBs) in seafood, as well as with antibiotics used in farm-raised species (e.g., shrimp). These levels, of course, vary depending on the type of seafood and from where it was sourced.
I would also be more concerned with overall intake of saturated fat and trans fat, both of which are positively correlated with greater risk of cardiovascular disease.
There are actually several different types of saturated fat. Some may promote higher bad cholesterol levels, while others may be neutral in their effect. Moderation is key.
Trans fats, on the other hand, are bad all around.
Cholesterol is an important chemical compound in the body. It’s used for hormones, bile salts, and even vitamin D. But there are several types (LDL, HDL, etc.), and ratios between the different types may be just as important as overall levels for predicting heart disease risk.
Cholesterol is often not the biggest problem in heart disease. Inflammation is. More on that here.
