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Cholesterol - What is cholesterol?

It is definitely a good idea to be concerned whether or not one is consuming foods that contain more cholesterol than is healthy. So, it begs the question as to what is cholesterol?  Cholesterol is a waxy substance that the liver produces, is found in some foods at differing levels and is required in the making of vitamin D as well as some hormones.

Cholesterol also helps build cell walls, and creates bile salts that are helpful in digesting fats. In one way or another cholesterol is a subject that affects every person and it may come as a bit of a surprise to know that the body produces enough cholesterol and it is quite commonly found in many foods. What cholesterol is concerns everyone, if the levels of cholesterol are higher than required, it can lead to serious health conditions such as heart diseases. There are a number of contributory factors that cause high cholesterol, but the good news is that it is still possible to control them. To completely understand what is cholesterol and how it affects the human body requires the knowledge that lipids are fats that are found everywhere in the body, and cholesterol is a form of lipid whose source is food obtained from animal sources.

Excessively high cholesterol levels can cause serious health conditions...

Eggs, meats, whole-fat dairy products like milk, cheese and ice cream are heavily loaded with cholesterol. However, vegetables, fruits and grains do not contain any cholesterol. There are also about a thousand milligrams of cholesterol produced by the liver everyda. A normal person will also consume approximately one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty milligrams in the foods they eat. One of the interesting facts about what is cholesterol is that it cannot travel alone through the bloodstream and needs to combine with certain proteins to do so. The proteins are like vehicles that collect the cholesterol and transport it to different parts of the body. The combination of protein and cholesterol form a lipoprotein of which there are two important types – high density lipoproteins (HDL) and low density lipoproteins (LDL).

The most harmful effects of low density lipoproteins include clogging the blood vessels. This prevents the blood from flowing through the body as it is intended to do. On the other hand, the high density lipoprotein is about a third or a fourth of total cholesterol and it carries cholesterol back to the liver where it is processed and expelled from the body.

The most alarming aspect of high cholesterol is that an excess of can and will endanger a person’s health. It is the excess of low density lipoproteins that will deposit cholesterol on the artery walls to form a hard substance that is known as plaque. Over time this makes the arteries narrower and causes a decrease in the flow of blood that can result in atherosclerosis. A good understanding what is cholesterol will help us take measures to keep it from reaching levels that are too high and which will put your life in danger.

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