There are multiple factors.
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You can eat oxidized LDL. I donât know how much dietary LDL the body typically digests and absorbs, but the liver may fix some of the oxidized dietary cholesterol you ingest. If it is oxidized, the liver may be able to âfixâ it before it gets incorporated into an LDL particle. I really do not know this, but until I know better specifics, it is best to avoid oxidizing my animal foods. Plant foods are actually not cholesterol free, but typically have much less cholesterol than animal foods, but they do have polyunsaturated fats which are fairly easily oxidized. Storing and cooking animal foods have a large impact on their oxidation. Fried restaraunt chicken is a really bad idea. They tend to reuse the oil for hours, and it becomes odixized and hydrogenated. Poultry and pork meats have more potential to have their fats oxidized as they have more polyunsaturated fats than red meats. Fish is higher yet - both the omega 3 and omega 6 polyunsaturated fats can become easily oxidized. Canned tuna is broken into small chunks and is exposed to the air before canning. It is highly oxidized, and is to be avoided. Freezing meat has a high potential to become oxidized. To lessen this I now only buy sealed fish for freezing - essentially or close to vacuum packed - or I eat it as fresh as possible. I have a vacuum packer for my other meats. Deli and processed meats are going to be highly exposed to air, and are more oxidized. Refrigerating leftovers and reheating them greatly increases the oxidized level.
It has been shown that oxidized polyunsaturated fats lead to higher LDL oxidation rates - probably because the liver puts that fat into the LDL particle for âshippingâ, and eventually the protein shell becomes oxidized. Do not cook animal foods at high temperatures. The oxidation process is highest at 300 F. I do not cook my meats any higher than necessary - I usually look for an internal temperature no higher than 160 F.
Grass fed beef has a much better omega 6 to omega 3 ratio BTW. -
Avoid refined polyunsaturated oils for reasons stated above. Because they are refined, they are already coming partially oxidized and even hydrogenated. I believe vegans and vegetarians who eat refined oils because they believe the saturated fat hype still get strokes and heart disease for this reason. When Ancel Keys made his recommendations to avoid saturated fat to lessen heart disease, Crisco was much more likely to be the real culprit. Also, on the top of my bad list are margarines, fried foods and fast foods.
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Do the Keto, saturated fat thing. I cook with coconut oil, butter, and olive oil to a lesser degree. When I use olive oil, I do not set the temp higher than 300 F. Saturated fats are much more stable, and less likely to be oxidized, and so probably wonât be oxidized when packed into the LDL particle by the liver. I hardly bake at all, but I bought some grape seed oil for my wife to use ocassionally. It has a very high smoke point so at least is not going to hydrogenate. It also is not GMO like virtually all the other seed oils are - unless they say non-GMO - so is not going to have glyphosate residues.
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Eat more wild seafood and grass fed meats to get more omega 3s to balance out the omega 6s. Get omega 6s from natural sources in whole foods.
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The Keto, low carb, low blood sugar thing is going to reduce glycated LDL. gLDL is much more likely to become oxidized, and oxidizes much faster than native LDL, so is to be avoided. High blood sugar is strongly correlative and causally related to heart disease mainly for this reason.
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Do the Hippocratic thing. Let food be thy medicine. Stick to whole foods in their natural forms. Avoid processed, boxed, and labeled foods which are full of seed oils, sugar, etc.
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Do not smoke or drinkâŚYeah, I know all you partiers.