If it tastes good it must be good for you, seems to be one of those natural assumptions that often prove incorrect, unfortunately.
Thai cuisine, which has made rapid strides in international popularity over the past decade, is apparently no exception to this gloomy gastronomical rule, although the good news is that it’s certainly a lot healthier than junk food in the United States.
Ten years, ago the average bad cholesterol level among Thais was no more than 180 milligrammes per decilitre. Last year, it was 204 mg/dL, according to Ministry of Health figures. Anything above 200 mg/dL of LDL-cholesterol is deemed unhealthy and likely to lead to blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.
Thai physicians and medical researchers find that somewhere between 10 to 14% of all Thais today are suffering from dangerously high levels of cholesterol, which helps explain why heart disease has been the number one killer in the country for
more than a decade.
Clearly, one source of blame for the rising cholesterol may be the introduction of United States fast food chains in most urban centres such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya and Phuket, over the past decade but that seems insufficient to explain a nationwide phenomenon.
Part of the problem, also lies at home, doctors say.
”Thai food has a lot of variety,” said Doctor Nopawan Kittivat, an endocrinologist at Bangkok’s Bamrungrad Hospital.
”The cuisine itself is not high in cholesterol but it is sometimes high in saturated fats that can change into cholesterol in the body.”
”For instance, coconut milk. This is a plant product. It doesn’t have cholesterol, but it has saturated fats and this can change into cholesterol in the body,” said Nopawan.
Coconut milk, along with lots of chilli peppers, is the base for most Thai curries such as ”kaeng keow wan” (green curry), ”paneang” (red curry) or special dishes such as ”tom kha gai” (a spicy chicken soup).
Coconut milk is also used to make Thai ice-cream and a host of other deserts.
As the Thai people have become wealthier, the cuisine has become heavier in meats — pork, chicken and sweetmeats, usually first fried in saturated fats, and seafood such as shrimp and cuttlefish — the latter is a killer for cholesterol.
”Only the lower class people are still eating somtam [papaya salad] with vegetables and nam prik [a mix of shrimp paste and chillies]. That’s healthy,” said Nopawan.
Oddly, while cholesterol levels tend to be lower in rural Thailand than in urban areas, they are higher among rural people aged over 60 than their urban counterparts, one recent study showed.
What’s clear, before you start avoiding your favourite Thai restaurant, is that there is still a lot about cholesterol that the scientific community is in the dark about.
For instance, associate professor Klaiupsorn Pongrapeeporn, a researcher at the Biochemistry Department of Bangkok’s Sirirat hospital, has been studying the frequency of hypercholesterolemia among Thais for several years and has concluded that many cases are due to genetic defects on the 19th chromosome rather than just a fatty diet.
Klaiupsorn’s research conducted on several sample groups of Thai people, including children at four different schools in Bangkok, have found that 10 to 14% of the those sampled have hypercholesterolemia or higher than 240 mg/dL.
But DNA tests on many of these hypercholesterolemia cases show that up to half have one of two genetic defects that make it harder for their bodies to absorb cholesterol, leaving it in the blood.
While Klaiumporn believes that people with familial hypercholesterolemia are much more prone to high LDL levels, she still believes that diet plays a role.
”I think that most Thai cuisine is good for our health, but we now eat more Western junk food and some Thai food has been modified making it sweeter, oilier with more meats, squid and shrimp, which are high in cholesterol,” said Klaiumporn.
While she acknowledges that Thai cuisine may not be a remedy for high cholesterol, familial or dietary, she has more faith in Thai herbs.
Klaiumporn is currently researching the impact of a Thai herbal medicine adding proteins to defect genes, making them better cholesterol absorbers.
Initial results are encouraging, but she’s keeping the name of the plant a secret until her research is published later this year. – Sapa-DPA