The Myths about Cholesterol

I’ll go ahead and say it – cholesterol is not bad for your body. In fact, it is essential for many areas including brain health.It was a rather misguided study in 1953 – I repeat 1953 – that generated today’s cholesterol standards and generated the belief that cholesterol is a destroyer of heart health. A biologist named Ancel Keys hypothesized that heart disease was caused by consuming too much fat in your diet. However, after his study that included data from 22 countries, he chose to include data from only seven countries to prove his hypothesis. When other scientists used the data from all 22 countries, the relationship between fat, cholesterol and heart disease disappeared.Cholesterol is found in every single cell in our bodies. It is made by the liver. The cholesterol we consume in our diets has little effect on our bodies. If you eat less cholesterol, the liver will take up the slack by producing more because it is essential to our bodies. We need cholesterol to make brain cells and we need it for our memories. With too little cholesterol in our brains, nerve transmission can be affected. Which is why, people who are on cholesterol medication often struggle with memory issues.LDL is considered to be the bad cholesterol, but the truth is there are two types of LDL cholesterol – type A which is a big, fluffy molecule and is not dangerous to our health. The other is type B, which is small, can become oxidized and stick to artery walls causing damage. However, doctors typically look only at the one LDL number to judge the cholesterol. If you are interested in having your next cholesterol test measure type A or type B, ask your doctor to conduct an NMR LipoProfile; but be warned, it might not be covered by your insurance.