Remember 

 "no cholesterol" simply 

 means the product has no animal 

 fats. It doesn't mean the product is low in 

 saturated fat. In fact, if palm kernel or coconut oil 

 is among the ingredients on the label, the prod- 

 uct is high in harmful saturated fats. 



And don't be fooled by "vegetable oil" claims. 

 Coconut, palm kernel and palm oils are vegetable 

 oils, but they're also high in saturated fats. 



Manufacturers use these saturated vegetable 

 oils because they don't easily go rancid or impart 

 an off flavor. And it's often cheaper to buy palm 

 oil from Third World countries than to buy the 



All of this talk about fats and cholesterol should 

 send folks running to the seafood counter. 

 Why? 



Because all seafood is low in fat and saturated 

 fat, and most is low in cholesterol. 



For instance, compare the fat and saturated fat in 

 3 1 /2 ounces of cooked ground beef (82 percent lean), 

 light meat chicken, gray trout and shrimp in Table 1 . 



The seafood clearly falls at the bottom of the 

 chart in fat and saturated fat content. This 

 translates into fewer calories and less cholesterol 

 in the bloodstream. 



Table 1. 



Fat Content in grams per 3 1 /2 oz. cooked portion. 



SATURATED 





FAT 



FAT 



Cheddar cheese 



31.4 



2.1 



ground beef (82% lean) 



16.8 



7.0 



2 large eggs 



11.2 



3.4 



loin pork chops 



10.4 



3.6 



top round steak 



6.9 



2.5 



canned white tuna 



6.4 





chicken, light meat (without skin) 



4.5 



1.3 



mullet 



2.9 



1.1 



gray trout 



2.8 



1.1 



bluefish 



2.0 





clams 



1.7 



0.3 



shrimp 



1.4 



0.2 



Sources for Tables 1 and 2: National Marine Fisheries Service. U S Dept. 



of Agriculture and J. A Nettleton's Seafood Nutrition 





unsaturated oil crops of corn, soybean 

 and cottonseed from U.S. farmers. 

 But food oil prices fluctuate, and sometimes 

 manufacturers buy domestic oils. That's why 

 labels often read: "contains one or more of the 

 following: soybean, cottonseed, palm and/or 

 coconut oil." This eliminates the expense of 

 changing labels when manufacturers switch oils, 

 but it leaves consumers in a quandary about the 

 foods they eat. 



All in all, the American Heart Association 

 recommends a low saturated fat, low cholesterol 

 diet for everyone. 



The association suggests limiting dietary choles- 

 terol to no more than 300 milligrams a day. And 

 people are encouraged to reduce total fat intake to 

 30 percent of their total daily calories and consump- 

 tion of saturated fat to less than 10 percent. 



When it comes to cholesterol, fmfish and most E*+§ 

 mollusks (clams, oysters, mussels and scallops) are Col 

 low in cholesterol. But bluecrab, shrimp and lobster 



are higher (see Table 2). And squid and fish roe are S63T00U 



even higher. 



That's why the American Heart Association recom- fr% \lf%tl¥ 



mends that folks on low cholesterol diets limit their Jr l/fff 



intake of shrimp, blue crab and lobster to once a ■ 



week n 63ns 



All shellfish were once thought to be high in 

 cholesterol, says Joyce Taylor Sea Grant's COtlt&ljt 

 seafood education specialist. But recent ad- 

 vances in analytical equipment allowed scientists 



to measure only cholesterol. As a result, the cho- BY KATHY HART 



lesterol count for oysters, clams and scallops 



dropped significantly. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 



But Taylor says that jable 2 

 consumers should 



alsoconsiderthesize Cholesterol in milligrams per 3Vfe oz. 

 of their servings. The cooked portion 



cholesterol counts chicken livers 745 



in Table 2 are for calf liver 440 



3 1 /2-ounce servings. 2 large eggs 428 



"No one eats only brown shrimp 157 



3 1 /2 ounces of shrimp blue crab 120 



or blue crab," Taylor ground beef (82% lean) 100 



says. "That amount loin pork chop 91 



only whets your appe- chicken, light meat 85 



tite. Most people eat croaker 54 



twice or three times flounder 50 



that amount, and red snapper 40 



they're consuming scallops 40 



two to three times as mullet 21 



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