Nutrition Hotline
How Much Cholesterol Do I Need?
QUESTION: I know that vegan diets do not contain any cholesterol. Don't humans need to eat some cholesterol so that their bodies can make hormones which contain cholesterol?
RL, Illinois
ANSWER: Our bodies are able to make all the cholesterol we need. According to a standard nutrition text (Modern Nutrition in Health and Disease, 9th ed., 1999), it is estimated that humans convert about 50 milligrams per day of cholesterol to steroid hormones. When you consider that cholesterol can be produced by almost every tissue in our body, and we are able to maintain levels of 150 milligrams or more per 100 milliliters of blood, it seems apparent that having enough cholesterol is not a problem even without a dietary source.
Where Should I Go to Learn About Parkinson's Disease and Other Conditions?
QUESTION: I've just learned I have Parkinson's Disease, macular degeneration, liver disease, etc. Where can I go for more information?
Via e-mail
ANSWER: We get many questions about specific diseases and conditions. Certainly the first place to go with questions about your personal situation is to your own health care provider. However, people often want to use other sources as well. Here are a few websites that we think have excellent, readable information about a variety of diseases and conditions. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list; these are the ones we most often visit.
<www.nih.gov/health/>
This is the site for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It includes the NIH Health Information Index, which provides a direct link to the specific NIH Institute (including National Cancer Institute and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) that supports research related to your health concern. These Institutes have extensive information about health topics.
<www.cdc.gov/health/diseases.htm>
This is the Centers for Disease Control's site. It features Health Topics A to Z, which is a listing of disease and health topics found on CDC's website. We've been able to find out about some fairly unusual diseases here.
<www.mayohealth.org>
Mayo Clinic's website includes good updates on timely topics as well as a searchable archive of information on all types of conditions and medical-related questions. You can find out about common problems like arthritis, as well as less common tropical diseases, at this site. Explanations are generally easy to understand.
