For many people, including myself, shrimp is a mealtime favorite.  I was recently told that shrimp was loaded with cholesterol which took me by surprise.  Knowing that we are often encouraged to increase the amount of seafood in our diet to lower our cholesterol, this disclosure didn't make sense to me.

Doing a little research I found that indeed shrimp has a lot of cholesterol.  Enough cholesterol that it surpasses many other foods.  Here's a shortened list from the [University of California San Francisco](https://www.ucsfhealth.org/education/cholesterol_content_of_foods/).

Product | Amount | Cholesterol (mg)
--- | --- | ---
Egg | 1 |  212
Whole Milk | 1 cup | 33
Butter |  1 tsp | 11
Beef (sirloin) | 3 ½ oz. | 89
Lamb (foreshank) | 3 ½ oz. | 106
Pork (chop) | 3 ½ oz. | 85
Shrimp | 3 ½ oz. | 194

That list is enough to scare most of us away from a three egg omelette with shrimp and cheese.  But don't worry it's not time to cancel the upcoming shrimp boil.   It's not the cholesterol that is bad but the relationship of the cholesterol to the fat content in what we eat.   While shrimp is loaded with cholesterol, it is almost fat free and contains no saturated fat.  Subsequently, shrimp doesn't increase cholesterol counts and according to studies improves them.

So we don't have to avoid shrimp to take care of our heart.  There is a lot of myths about what is good for our health and what is bad.  Take a look at this article from [Healthline](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/top-9-biggest-lies-about-dietary-fat-and-cholesterol).  We've been mislead by health organizations (inside and outside the government), recommendations of fad diets, and so on.  In general, maybe it just makes sense to eat what you want in moderation.  

Additional reading:
[Shrimp, Scallops, and Other Shellfish As Part of a Low-Cholesterol Diet](https://www.verywellhealth.com/low-cholesterol-diet-shrimp-and-scallops-697976)
[Is Shrimp Healthy? Nutrition, Calories and More](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-shrimp-healthy)
[Shrimp Cholesterol Count](https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/shrimp-cholesterol-count-1831.html)