Low in cholesterol
Leskol Half Fat contains 90% less cholesterol than Cheddar... but what does this mean for you?
Firstly, we've all heard that too much cholesterol in our blood increases the risk of coronary heart disease, but did you know that there is "good" cholesterol as well as "bad"?
It's all to do with how cholesterol is transported around the body... and as with most things in life, it's a question of balance.
Virtually all the cholesterol in your body is produced by your liver from saturated fats in the food you eat. It's a substance which, as the British Heart Foundation puts it, "plays a vital role in how every cell wall works throughout the body" as well as being used to make other vital body chemicals.
Cholesterol is important stuff. But to do its job it has to get around your body, and this it does by hitching a ride with certain proteins in your blood. Which protein "vehicle" the cholesterol uses depends on the job the cholesterol is traveling to do... but these combinations of the two are known as lipoproteins.
Low Density Lipoproteins, or LDLs, carry cholesterol from the liver to the cells that need it, while High Density Lipoproteins carry the excess cholesterol that isn't needed back to the liver - and this is the trick. You want to increase the amount of HDL, or "good" cholesterol in your blood, but lower your overall cholesterol level and effectively decrease the amount of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, which can lead to heart disease.
Sound confusing? It is a little, but it basically means that you need to tell your body not to make too much cholesterol... and this you can do by lowering your saturated fat intake. Sat fat makes excess bad cholesterol. The thing is, you do want your body to keep making plenty of the good stuff, so how do you get this balance right?
Unsaturated fats. Monounsaturates in particular tell your body to make less LDL - the bad stuff - without discouraging your body from making HDL - good cholesterol.
And guess what? Leskol Half Fat is full to the brim with unsaturated fats.
