Cholesterol is an often misunderstood nutrient. It is required by your body for building cell membranes, nerve conduction, hormone and vitamin production and numerous other tasks. It is so important that your body makes it in various organs, primarily the liver (20 - 25%). It is generally considered to be in the fat family, because it has a fatty lipid tail hanging off one side, chemically speaking, and so we shall consider it a fat as well for simplicity's sake.
The amount of cholesterol in your body is balanced by the amount you take in through the foods you eat and how much your body produces. The more you eat, the less your body produces. Foods that contain cholesterol include all animal products, especially cheese, egg yolks, beef, poultry, pork and shrimp. How much you produce is mostly genetic.
The amount of cholesterol circulating in your body is a good indication of whether or not you have too much in your system. This is measured using LDL (low density lipoproteins) and HDL (high density lipoproteins). These have been nick-named "bad fat" and "good fat" respectively, not because of how much cholesterol is in them (they contain the same amount) but because of the size and quantity of each of the molecules. LDL is a small molecule that is easily caught in small nicks and tears in arteries, then sticks to itself building up dikes that eventually block those arteries and raise your blood pressure, or cause heart attacks and strokes. HDL is a much larger molecule. It doesn't fit into those little tears, but it also sticks to LDL particles and can scrape them off the sides of your arteries and actually reduce the build up of those dikes, even to the point of near elimination. That's why doctors like high HDL and low LDL numbers on your lab test results.
So, what if you wanted to lower your blood cholesterol with diet and exercise before trying medication? There are actually a few foods that are recognized as good tools for lowering cholesterol before medication is necessary.
First, you need to be Vitamin B sufficient to properly metabolize cholesterol. If you aren't getting enough of this group of vitamins, your cholesterol will tend to be high. Make sure you have plenty of Vitamin B Complex in your diet.
Second, Vitamin C is needed to utilize cholesterol. Vitamin C doesn't last very long in the body, nor in most of the products we buy. It's best to get things as fresh as possible since this vitamin starts breaking down from the moment the fruit or vegetable it produces is picked. Also, if your Vit. C supplement is old or has been exposed to air or moisture, it's probably not the potency you think it is; make sure to get plenty of this vitamin in your diet.
Other things recognized for their effectiveness in lowering cholesterol are garlic, soy, fiber, chromium, grape seed extract and pantothine. And, of course, lots of whole grains and fresh fruits and veg!
It's also really important to avoid "trans" fats. These fats do not occur in nature, but do occur in margarine and shortening, and in lots of snack foods. These products encourage LDL production in your system. It may seem counter-intuitive to use butter instead, but our family mixes one stick of butter with 1/2 cup of canola oil, making our own "spread" which is buttery and delightful and contains no trans fats, and also is much less expensive than "light" butter or buttery spreads from the market.
I hope this has helped you to better understand this truly complex chemical. As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.
Always,
Dr. P
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