See also: plasma atherogenicity index
The so-called cholesterol index - saturated fatty acids, also called index of food atherogenicity, has been proposed in an attempt to quantify the ability of individual foods to promote the growth of atherosclerotic plaques inside the arteries:
Cholesterol index - ac. saturated fat = (1.01 xg ac. saturated fat) + (0.05 x mg cholesterol)
In fact, we know that the atherogenic power of a food does not depend only on the cholesterol content, but also and above all on the richness in saturated fats. Crustaceans, for example, despite being foods particularly rich in cholesterol, are considered less atherogenic than animal fats, since they contain few hyper-cholesterol-lowering fatty acids (in particular myristic and palmitic). The cholesterol content of red and white meat is also similar, but since the latter is less rich in saturated fat, it is preferred to red.
| Type of food (100 g) | Cholesterol (mg) | Saturated fat (g) | Cholesterol / saturated fatty acid index (indicative) |
| Chicken meat | ≈ 67 | ≈ 3 | 6.4 |
| Red meat (10% fat) | ≈ 65 | ≈ 5 | 8.3 |
| Red meat (20% fat) | ≈ 65 | ≈ 10 | 13.5 |
| Red meat (30% fat) | ≈ 65 | ≈1 5 | 18.5 |
| Fat cheeses | ≈ 90 | -25 15-25 | 25 |
| Crustaceans | ≈ 100 | ≈ 0.2 | 5.2 |
| Fish | ≈ 50-100 | ≈ 0.5-1.2 | 4.6 |
The index of atherogenicity of food has several limitations, first of all the scarce practicality of calculation. Moreover, it does not take into account the different atherogenic power of fatty acids, which is minimal for stearic acid and for those with a shorter chain, and maximum for myristic and palmitic acid. Thus, if for example we take two samples of coconut oil and palm oil, weighed in such a way as to contain the same amount of saturated fatty acids, according to the aforementioned formula the atherogenicity index is almost identical, when in reality the oil palm is much more atherogenic (because it is rich in palmitic and palmitoleic acid).
Effects of replacing one percent of daily carbohydrate calories with one percent of calories from related fatty acids.
Furthermore, the atherogenicity index of foods does not take into account the antiatherogenic (hypolipidemizing) effect of some monounsaturated fatty acids (see oleic) and polyunsaturated (see omega three and omega six). Finally, he is not concerned with evaluating the caloric content and the glycemic index of foods, factors that stimulate lipid synthesis, raising its atherogenic power. This is the case, for example, of table sugar and ethyl alcohol, which - despite having a cholesterol index / saturated fatty acids equal to zero - are strongly hyperlipidemizing.
Although with all these limitations, the cholesterol / saturated fatty acid index emphasizes a very important and often underestimated concept:
the atherogenicity of a food depends above all on the concomitant presence of high amounts of cholesterol and saturated fatty acids, and in particular on the concentration of the latter.
