Understanding Cholesterol...It May Never Stress You Again!

Blaming cholesterol as the cause of heart disease and strokes is like blaming the fireman for the fire!

Cholesterol is a major component of the human body, especially

the cell membranes by helping their health surrounding the organs, also the supply of bile acids, the glands and especially the brain. It is the precursor compound of all steroid hormones and the basic building block of hormones, vitamins and other necessary components. At the same time, among other things, it also acts as an insulating material for nerve axons, which are responsible for the transfer of stimuli in the nervous system.

Under normal conditions, our body produces almost 80% of the total cholesterol needed to function correctly. Hence, the extra cholesterol we can consume is the remaining 20% which we get through food.

Cholesterol is mainly synthesized in the intestinal wall and the liver in quantities proportional to the body's needs, metabolic balance, and diet content. Cholesterol plays a very important role such as:

• In the proper functioning of the body because it coordinates the circulatory system, which is the body's internal communication based on the heart.

• It is the essential structural component of all body cells.

• The key factor for the synthesis of vitamin D.

• It synthesises hormones such as cortisol, DHEA, and the sex hormones testosterone, progesterone, and estrogen.

• A necessary component of bile salts which help in the digestion of lipids.

• It activates the happy hormone, serotonin, while serotonin receptors are not activated when its levels are low.

• It protects and strengthens the body's immune system.

• Helps brain health. It is no coincidence that 25% cholesterol is found in the brain.

• It helps regulate homeostasis (the body's autonomous balance).

Lipoproteins

Because all lipids are insoluble in water and can be transported with the blood, they are linked to proteins that become their carriers and are friendly to water (hydrophilic). The complex of these lipids is called a lipoprotein. Cholesterol is divided into three main subclasses, two lipoproteins designed to do specific jobs, each of which is HDL, LDL & VLDL.

HDL = High-density lipoprotein

It acts as a carrier, cleaner, of excess cholesterol. It starts from the liver (where it is produced) towards the tissues. Its transport takes place in the centre of the arteries and has higher percentages of protein but lower percentages of lipids. So it can bind the excess amount of cholesterol and bring it back to the liver for purification, from which the liver will separate and expel it through the faeces.

For this reason, it is thinner in texture and more flexible. You maintain proper circulatory function through this process, unlike LDL, whose role is purely constructive, as you will see below. Thus, in its contact with the walls of vessels and arteries, it does not create any accumulation of cholesterol, and it simply collects the remains left by LDL after the repair it makes in the arteries. So there is no risk of blood clots or heart and stroke attacks. This is the main reason it is also called "good cholesterol".

What can affect HDL?

Apart from genetic predisposition, which is only a tiny percentage, the main thing is the lifestyle that everyone follows. The healthier the lifestyle, the better the HDL and the whole system will function.

LDL = Low-density lipoprotein

This protein is for repair. It contains a lower percentage of protein and a higher percentage of lipids, so it is denser in texture than HDL. Its movement and transport occur from the liver to the cells and tissues of the body but to the walls of the arteries and tissues. Thus, it can correct any damage inside the arteries, such as inflammation and oxidation in the vessels and arteries, which are like wounds with intense corrosion.

LDL cholesterol calls to regulate this damage before it gets out of control and applies healing coatings to repair the damage, thus providing the solution to the problem. After the damage is restored, the leftovers are picked up by the HDL, and the job is done, and this is a natural consequence of a healthy organism.

Despite this, it is classified as "bad cholesterol". I can't imagine the human body could create something terrible that would impair its function. The solution here is a balance between them, so we let the body do what it knows best, protecting itself by maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

VLDL (Very-low-density lipoprotein)

Very-low-density lipoprotein is particularly harmful because it consists of even more triglycerides, a type of fat, than low-density lipoprotein. VLDL can increase the risk of heart disease when its levels increase.

Epilogue

Could the cholesterol hypothesis be just another myth to serve some purpose? Do we need to put more faith in what the drug companies want us to believe?

In the large study known as the Framingham Heart Study, Dr. George Mann characterized the "cholesterol" case as

The most significant fraud ever perpetrated on the American people.

In 1986, Japanese doctors warned that low cholesterol levels were linked to strokes, Japan's No. 1 cause of death. They also add that the increased consumption of fats in the diet reduces strokes, contrary to the beliefs of Western people!

Over the past 30 years, we have seen the recommended normal cholesterol levels drop from 300 mg/dl to 260 mg/dl, then 260 mg/dl, then 220 mg/dl, and today consider cholesterol below 200 mg/dl.

Research such as the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging showed that people with total cholesterol levels below 189 mg/dl were much more likely to die than those with higher cholesterol levels.

In 2011, the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice published a ten-year study in which women with high cholesterol levels were about 30% less likely to die from heart disease and stroke than those with low cholesterol levels below 200 mg/dl.

I will close the article with something I read that made a great impression on me because something similar was said almost 2500 years ago by Hippocrates.

If today's physician does not become tomorrow's dietitian, then

today's nutritionist will become tomorrow's doctor!

Dr. Alexis Carrel