How is cholesterol good for the body's health?

How is cholesterol good for the body's health?

"Bad" LDL cholesterol and "good" HDL cholesterol - the former kills, while the latter is good for health. Some people are fit and lead a healthy lifestyle, yet have high LDL levels and very low HDL levels. 

What's happening?

The truth is, no one knows everything about how cholesterol works in the body. Cholesterol is an insoluble lipid - fat. This means that this compound must travel in the blood by binding to and being carried by protein molecules.

Combinations of fat and protein are called lipoproteins. The first of these is "bad" because it is a risk factor for atherosclerosis - the clogging of the arteries that can cause a heart attack or stroke.

Cholesterol levels are affected by how much fat is absorbed from the gut into the bloodstream and how the liver makes "bad" LDL cholesterol.

There are also genetic factors that contribute to an individual's cholesterol level. They may be healthy but have elevated levels of "bad" cholesterol.

Although high levels of "good" HDL cholesterol are known to be protective, there is no evidence that low levels of HDL are in any way harmful. So it seems that all the blame for atherosclerosis lies with the "bad" LDL cholesterol.

The doctor's recommendation is to do everything in our power to reduce the level of "bad" LDL cholesterol below 3mmol per liter and the level of total cholesterol to 5mmol per liter or less. For this, they recommend a diet based on plants, fruits, and vegetables. They suggest minimizing animal fat intake and getting protein and fat as much as possible from fatty fish. In addition, they recommend losing weight if you are overweight and do not smoke.

However, in light of the new health idea of ​​reversing obesity and heart disease by limiting sugar and increasing healthy saturated fats in the diet, these recommendations now seem somewhat simplistic excessive consumption of sugar disrupts cholesterol metabolism.

Or is it because too many polyunsaturated artificial vegetable oils are consumed. Current recommendations are to "avoid" natural fats in foods such as butter, whole milk, and cheese. this "abnormal" way of telling you what to eat causes high levels of "bad" LDL cholesterol.

The results of studies on these ideas should be quite interesting. George belays wrote a weekly newsletter on ways to lose weight and other health issues.