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Ask yourself, your doctor, or your next door neighbor, "What is cholesterol?" What does it do and why does my body make it? Why do dogs, chickens, cows, and gorillas have cholesterol? If it is harmful, is my body trying to cause a heart attack or a stroke? Does my body not like me? Is the liver, the main organ that produces cholesterol, trying to kill me? Chances are, whoever you ask, will not give you a decent answer. Your doctor is likely to give you a blank stare or quickly get intimidated, possibly kicking you out of his/her office.
These questions seem foolish, because if the body is making cholesterol, there is an obvious purpose. Drink some herbal tea to relax because here comes a little biochemistry. Cholesterol is a small molecule made by all mammals that contains three different elements or atoms: carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. In fact, each cholesterol molecule contains 27 carbon atoms, 46 hydrogen atoms, and 1 oxygen atom. This "scary" substance contains only these 3 basic elements. We are not talking about dangerous heavy metals like mercury and lead. Carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen are the building blocks of life. Cholesterol is a pretty basic structure that has been around for hundreds of millions of years.This fact was drilled into young, fertile minds during medical school but was suffocated by the tentacles of big Pharma and their cheerleaders in the media.
Cholesterol is a hydrophobic waxy molecule, meaning it does not like water, preferring the company of fat. Think pot of chicken soup left out all night and the thick layer of fat on top. Because of this unique structure, cholesterol must travel around the body with "friends" LDL and HDL, but more on that later.
About 25% of cholesterol production occurs in the liver and most cells in the body are capable of producing this life sustaining product including the intestines, adrenal glands, and reproductive organs. On a side note, the liver is a large organ in the upper right portion of your abdomen. It is responsible for hundreds of functions including detoxification (removing the gunk from the body), the manufacturing of proteins and fats, storage and breakdown of sugar, digestion of food, and MAKING CHOLESTEROL. The body makes about 1000 mg daily, enough to fill a vitamin capsule.
Cholesterol is a found in all foods that come from an animal, because animals need it to live, just like humans do. The typical daily consumption of cholesterol in the U.S. is 200-300 mg. That is about the weight of 3 raindrops. The cholesterol from food is in the ester form (uh oh...biochemistry again) that is not absorbed well by the body and is preferentially passed in the stool. The gut prefers to absorb unesterified cholesterol that was made by the liver and excreted into the bile to assist with digestion. The majority of cholesterol that is made by the liver is excreted into the gall bladder to digest food, particularly fat. It seems to reason that a good way to process cholesterol, along with clearing out the liver and gall bladder, is to eat fat. In what is called enterohepatic circulation, about 50% of this excreted cholesterol is reabsorbed by a healthy GI tract. There are some pharmaceuticals and natural supplements that prevent reabsorption as a way to lower lipid numbers.There are tests available to determine if you are a hyperabsorber or a hypersynthesizer of cholesterol. Most people either make a lot or absorb a lot, which stands to reason, because of the importance of this molecule.
Synthesis of cholesterol starts with the molecule acetyl CoAwhich gets converted to HMG-CoA.This molecule is then reduced to mevalonateby the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase.Blockade of this enzyme is the main effect of the group of pharmaceuticals called statins such as Lipitor and Crestor. Enzymes are proteins that convert product A to product B. In this case, many nutrients are created in this long road to cholesterol production. Has it ever occurred to medical doctors that some of these intermediates are important?
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