system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Where has the medical community landed on the health impacts of dietary cholesterol?

So a few years ago I thought the consensus was shifting and I read a lot of studies showing dietary cholesterol didn't have a big impact on cardiovascular cholesterol, but then I vaguely recall a contradictory study that was supposed to be a sprawling meta-study that came out in like the last year, and they thought it *did* have an impact. So which is it now and why? Can I go enjoy a dozen eggs a week and big shrimp stir fries or should I generally stay away?  


Thanks!
gpt
So here's the gist. 

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Cholesterol in food does not have any caloric value, i.e. the human body does not extract energy from it, and hence, it  does not provide energy for us.

HOWEVER, measured cholesterol in our blood is a completely different entity. Cholesterol is used for many purposes in the body, it makes up our cell membranes, hormones, is used in many cell processes, it is used for transporting fat, and it is used to produce bile acids. Cholesterol measured in the blood is mainly in the form of tiny spheres that contain fats inside them. These spheres are used to transport fat around the body. Again, the walls of these spheres are made up of cholesterol and the inside of these spheres is the fat to be transported. We call these spheres cholesterol because that's what the walls are made up of, but they are in themselves not harmful per se. There are different types of cholesterol spheres in our blood and the differences come from the type of protein that is embedded in the wall of these sphere with the cholesterol. These proteins are important as they dictate what the sphere's ultimate purpose is. The types of cholesterol measured in your blood reflects pretty much your diet and how much fat you have circulating in your blood. In essence, a high fat diet is likely to lead to higher cholesterol levels of the bad type, the type that increases your risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Losing weight and exercising utilizes the fat and lowers these cholesterol levels, hence, lower your risk of CVD. 

To answer your question, natural occurring cholesterol is found in everything you eat, even plants. In moderation, it doesn't seem to have any major impact on cholesterol levels, which translates to not having any increase or decrease in the risk of CVD. 

BUT, fried shrimp is something different. The oil used to cook the shrimp will be mainly composed of lipids (fats), not cholesterol. THOSE lipids are the reason that your cholesterol will go up, not the cholesterol in the shrimp or eggs. This is why fast food diet strongly increases your risk of CVD: almost all of fast food is prepared with copious amounts of cooking oil.