Cholesterol (C₂₇H₄₆O) - "The maligned fat"

What is it?

-   Best known member of the sterols, this white, waxy, fat-like substance is found in the tissues of all vertebrates throughout the animal kingdom - some is also found in plants.

Only 20-30% of our cholesterol is obtained from food

Typically 200-300mg cholesterol / day is obtained from foods (i.e. only 20-30% of that produced by the body)

-   Primarily from animal foods such as eggs, meat, poultry, dairy products, fish, and shellfish:

 E.g.  According to the USDA, one large egg contains ~186 mg of cholesterol --- all in the yolk.

 -   Breast milk has 6 times more cholesterol than cow's milk.   Soy milk has none. Infants on low-cholesterol formulas have low cholesterol levels, even though their livers are working hard to produce the missing cholesterol;

If you don't eat it, the body produces it

Give up steak, eggs, cheese, butter, etc. and your cholesterol may not budge a single point.    This is because your body can make as much as 1500 grams of cholesterol a day, which may be more than 6 times the amount you eat. Only about 20% comes from the food you eat, your liver and intestines make most of the rest out of raw materials, such as fat, sugars and proteins

The rate of cholesterol synthesis in the liver is under feedback control, to maintain a normally constant blood cholesterol level. When the dietary intake is high, liver synthesis is low; when intake is low, synthesis increases.

In addition to the liver and intestines, all of the body's cells can produce cholesterol according to demand (indicative of its importance in the body) - in particular, the adrenal glands, placenta, and sex glands have high synthesis rates. 

Cholesterol is not the monster you have been led to believe

You have been deceived in the scam of the century.   This for the primary purpose of creating a mega-profit market to sell cholesterol-lowering drugs (called statins) -  There is no evidence that low-cholesterol “fake foods” prevent heart trouble - these include low-cholesterol dried eggs, margarine, non-dairy creamer. There is evidence, however, that they are linked to cancer.

Statins don't save lives

Cholesterol and Saturated Fat DO NOT CAUSE ischaemic CVD

Cholesterol serves many essential roles in the body

Building blocks of cell membranes, used to make vitamin D, sex and stress hormones, fat-dissolving bile acids and more . . .

Cholesterol - Our Hero

Saturated Fat intake increases blood cholesterol level / Polyunsaturated fats decreases it.   This is natural corrective mechanism to maintain the integrity of the cell membranes.

Cholesterol and other lipids travel in water-soluble "suitcases", called lipoproteins

 ~ 1 Tbsp. of cholesterol is carried and circulated in our blood in water-soluble "suitcases", called lipoproteins.   Tiny protein-covered packages that allow fatty cholesterol to travel in watery blood. A typical 150# body has a total cholesterol content of a little over an ounce (35g)

There are five main different types of lipoproteins that change from one form to another:

•  Chylomicrons.   Packaged in the digestive system, they are very large particles that mainly carry triglycerides (TGs) from food.

•  Very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL).    Made by the liver; also carry TGs to tissues;  Body's cells extract fatty acids from VLDLs, changing them into intermediate density lipoproteins, and with further extraction, into LDL particles.

•  Intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL).   Begin as VLDLs, but as their fatty acids are extracted, some are removed rapidly by the liver, and some are changed into LDLs.

•  Low-density lipoprotein (LDL).   Carry mainly cholesterol, since most of their previously-carried triglycerides have been extracted. LDL delivers cholesterol TO tissues. Called "bad cholesterol" for no valid reason. BTW, the standard blood cholesterol test does not measure LDL  - it only estimates it. 

•  High-density lipoprotein (HDL).   So-called "good cholesterol", removes cholesterol FROM circulation and artery walls and returns it to the liver for excretion.