Date: April 19th, 2020
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a fatty organic compound found in the cell membrane of all mammals. Cholesterol is very important in various body processes.
Cholesterol in the body comes from 2 sources:
Endogenous cholesterol - cholesterol produced in the body in the liver cells, which is most of the body's cholesterol (depending on diet-breakdown below).
Exogenous cholesterol - Cholesterol derived from the foods we consume.
You tend to think that what causes all diseases is the high amount of cholesterol we get from the foods we consume but that is inaccurate. Our liver produces cholesterol anyway, and when we consume more cholesterol than food, the liver produces less cholesterol. Of course, that does not mean that you can consume unlimited cholesterol. What is more important is the amount of cholesterol transporters (carriers) in the bloodstream: HDL and LDL which we will discuss later.
Cholesterol Roles
1. Creating steroid hormones like testosterone and estrogen.
2.Contributes to the formation of a membrane that wraps around the neurons that pass through the body (the myelin membrane).
3. Enables the functioning of certain parts of the body, including the proper cellular function.
4.Important in creating bile juices and certain vitamins (Like Vitamin A).
"Good" Cholesterol And "Bad" Cholesterol
Many of you have probably heard of these designations from parents, friends, TV, doctors and more, but in fact these are not types of cholesterol, these types of lipoproteins (types of protein) and are built from a core of lipids and cholesterol surrounded by a mantle. These are actually the transporters (carriers) of the cholesterol itself in the bloodstream. It is important to note that there are other cholesterol carriers in the body, but we will not elaborate on them in this article.
1. The "Bad" Cholesterol (Low Density Lipoproteins) - This lipoprotein is actually the one responsible for the transport of cholesterol from the liver to the rest of the body.
LDL has a form called patternB that is considered more etherogenic and is an important risk factor in the development of atherosclerosis.
2. The "Good" cholesterol (HDL- High Density Lipoproteins) - This lipoprotein performs the opposite action to LDL, which means it brings the cholesterol from the body cells back to the liver. One of its features is its ability to resist cholesterol oxidation and it removes cholesterol from the bloodstream.
Studies have shown that HDL (mainly with the enzyme found in HDL called paroxonase) can prevent LDL oxidation, which can lead to a decrease in vascular endothelial cell damage, which is caused by oxidized LDL among others.
HDL can also be oxidized, which can impair its ability to restore cholesterol to the liver and also cause a phenomenon called macrophages (a cell that extracts foreign particles from body fluids) and actually cholesterol accumulation. Moreover, oHDL (oxygenated HDL) has neurotoxicity and has been shown to play a role in the onset. Arteries that "contribute" to the formation of arterial heart disease. Another interesting thing about this disease is that the possibility that certain hormones like estrogen (a female hormone, although found in men in tiny amounts), plus progestin can help prevent the disease.
guess what? These hormones lower the overall cholesterol level, in addition to lower the LDL level and raise the HDL level! This is also probably why women are more protected against arterial disease until the period when estrogen levels drop significantly (in menopause).
Cholesterol And Fats
You've probably heard that there are "good" fats and “not good” fats.
"Good" Fats
1. Polyunsaturated Fats - Polyunsaturated fats are fats in which the number of double bonds between carbon is greater than one.
Sample foods containing fat of this type: walnuts, sesame oil, northern sea fish, almonds, canola oil, tahini and more.
This fat does not significantly affect the ratio of HDL / LDL. This type of fat is a source of the formation of Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids that are essential for the body. The body cannot produce them alone.
2. Monounsaturated Fats - Monounsaturated fats are fats that contain one double bond. For example, foods containing fat of this type: nuts, olive oil, avocado and more.
These fats lower LDL levels.
"Not good" Fats
1. Saturated Fat - A type of fat that has no double bonds. Saturated fat appears to increase testosterone production in the body, but it is recommended that it should not exceed 30% of the amount of fat we consume.
Sources of saturated fat: meat, eggs, milk and more.
This fat raises the level of LDL and thus "contributes" to our chances of getting heart disease. High levels of this fat and cholesterol can lead to a high level of bile acid in the colon or lead to an imbalance in the metabolism of certain fatty acids. Saturated fat can also "contribute" to the development of cancerous tumors.
But this fat is not completely "bad" because it raises the production of testosterone hormone in our bodies. Also, if you combine this fat with other fats in proper amounts, some of its bad effects can be eliminated.
2. Trans Fat - Created artificially in a process called hydrogenation (adding a hydrogen molecule to the oil) to harden it at room temperature. This fat is found in: margarine, chips, snacks and more.
Like saturated fat, it raises LDL and can lead to cancerous tumors.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
It is an acid whose most important feature is anticancer and belongs to the polyunsaturated fatty acid family. It can also help prevent heart disease. It is found mainly in cattle (red meat) and milk and low concentration in the human body. In the human body, linoleic acid is attached to the muscle tissues and the body's subcutaneous tissue. Some researchers believe this acid can help in the "war" against cancerous tumors.
In one study, let's look at the impact level of CLA in different types of meat, it seems that in high fat (30% or more) it’s effect is low, probably due to the high concentrations of saturated fat and cholesterol. In contrast, in meat where the fat level is lower (around 15%) the effect was greater.
So How Do We Know What Our CholesterolIs?
When we do a blood test, there are two things that interest us about cholesterol:
Total cholesterol (TC-TOTAL CHOLESTEROL) and HDL \ LDL ratio.
In normal condition, your blood cholesterol level will be less than 200mg. In a situation above 200mg, the risk of coronary heart disease increases. Notice that every milligram is important because with every milligram the risk increases.
Regarding the HDL / LDL ratio, you will often hear from your doctor that you need to reduce or increase one, but it is important to know why. What is most important is the relationship between the two. As explained before, both work in different directions: one leads the cholesterol to the tissues and the other brings it back to the liver. That is, there needs to be some balance between the two. To make it easy for us, we will define a certain relationship that should exist between the two. The standard ratio is 1 to 4 in favor of the LDL, while even a smaller ratio will fit. That is, if our HDL level is 30, the LDL level will be no higher than 120. In the opposite situation, where the ratio is improper, ie higher than 1 to 4, there is a danger that cholesterol will remain on the walls, leading to a blockage and subsequently heart disease.
Endogenous Cholesterol (Produced In The Body) And Exonic Cholesterol (Food-Derived)
There is a connection between the two.
If we consume more cholesterol, the liver produces less (the liver can produce up to 2 grams of cholesterol per day). For example, let's take an egg, which is known to be high in cholesterol (around 210 milligrams of cholesterol). It has been found that supplementation of 100 mg / d cholesterol (this is the case and we went through the 2 grams mentioned above) will raise the overall cholesterol level by 2.2 mg / dL which is about 1% (of course these are healthy people not sensitive to cholesterol). This will lead to an increase of 1.9 mg / dL in LDL and an increase of 0.4 mg / dL in HDL.
As you can see, the effect is very low (remember the standard ratio is 1/4 and slightly less for LDL). That is to say that egg consumption does not affect the cholesterol levels in the body. More than that, whole egg intake can be beneficial due to the presence of antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin which can be an excellent source of carotenoids (red or yellow pigment).
In Conclusion
We have seen what cholesterol is, what its functions are in the body and what types of cholesterol. We found out who the lipoproteins (the "good" and "bad" cholesterol) are, what their properties and role are in the human body. We have seen the relationship between the fats we consume and the cholesterol and lipoproteins. We've also seen how cholesterol intake from food affects the body and lipoproteins, and eating eggs isn't as bad as they say!