Fish Cholesterol

Is there cholesterol in fish? Is fish high in cholesterol? How much cholesterol in fish? Is fish safe for a cholesterol sufferer? Is there cholesterol in fish oil? How to cook up fish the low cholesterol recipe way?

Is there cholesterol in fish?

Fish do contain cholesterol.

Is fish high in cholesterol and how much cholesterol is there in fish?

How much cholesterol a fish contains depends on it's type. Generally, fish contains between 0.5mg cholesterol per gram of fish, upto 1.2mg cholesterol per gram of fish.

For comparative purposes, this is very similiar to the cholesterol in beef, chicken breast, bacon ... which runs around the 1mg cholesterol per gram.

So why is fish cholesterol not ringing alarm bells? It's because fish mostly have very little fat in them and fish have almost nil saturated fat. So although the cholesterol in fish is not much better than what you would find in meat, it's draw card is that, without much saturated fat, there is almost nothing in fish for our body to convert to cholesterol. Meat on the other hand, with it's saturated fat, can fuel the body with the saturated fat to make cholesterol.

There are several thousand types of fish with varying amounts of fish cholesterol:

Fish cholesterol for some common fish:

Anchovies canned in oil contains, 0.8mg fish cholesterol per gram

Bream contains, 0.9mg fish cholesterol per gram

Cod contains, 0.6mg fish cholesterol per gram

Flake / Shark contains, 0.6mg fish cholesterol per gram

Flathead contains, 0.8mg fish cholesterol per gram

Gemfish contains, 0.6mg fish cholesterol per gram

Morwong contains, 0.7mg fish cholesterol per gram

Mullet contains, 0.9mg fish cholesterol per gram

Mulloway contains, 0.8mg fish cholesterol per gram

Pink Salmon canned in brine contains, 0.8mg fish cholesterol per gram

Red Salmon canned in brine contains, 0.7mg fish cholesterol per gram

Salmon, smoked, contains, 0.5mg fish cholesterol per gram

Sardine canned in oil contains, 1.2mg fish cholesterol per gram

Snapper contains, 0.9mg fish cholesterol per gram

Tuna canned in oil contains, 0.4mg fish cholesterol per gram

Tuna canned in brine contains, 0.5mg fish cholesterol per gram

Whiting contains, 1.0mg fish cholesterol per gram

The cholesterol in fish was worked out using figures provided by ANZFA; where fish is canned, the fish cholesterol stated is the cholesterol in the fish after the brine or oil has been drained off.

Is there cholesterol in fish oil?

The amount of cholesterol in fish oil varies from from about 0 to 1 mg cholesterol per 1000mg fish oil capsule - but the people stating these figures tend to have a financial interest in selling fish oil. For a high cholesterol sufferer, I think it reasonable to work on fish oil as having between 0.5 mg cholesterol per 1000mg fish oil capsule, up to 1.2mg cholesterol per 1000mg fish oil capsule.

Is fish safe for a cholesterol sufferer to take?

Generally speaking 75% of the population who suffer with high cholesterol, do not have to worry about the cholesterol in fish, as there bodies do not absorb fish cholesterol. For the 25% of the population whose body absorbs fish cholesterol, fish needs to be taken into account when working out the daily cholesterol dietary intake.

So, for most high cholesterol sufferers, fish is safe, but for a large minority of cholesterol sufferers, fish intake needs to be monitored closely.

Preparing fish the low cholesterol way.

As a fish contains about as much cholesterol as a piece of meat, but with the added advantage of having negligible saturated fat, a high cholesterol sufferer normally restricts their fish intake to about one meal a day.

The low cholesterol recipes for preparing fish are to either boil, poach or fry - with a thin spray of vegatable oil, such as canola oil. Oven baking of fish is acceptable, provided only a thin spray of oil is used. The fish can be seasoned any way you want, provided the seasonings are cholesterol and saturated fat free. Try using the herbs and spices that help lower cholesterol - these can be found on our lower cholesterol naturally page.