Is Cholesterol as bad as you think?

Welcome to Part Four in our Cholesterol series where we separate the common myths from reality around what your Doctors tell you and why.

The word ‘cholesterol’ conjures up negative thoughts about health, yet in reality they are a necessity of life, and without cholesterol we would not have hormones or bile acids to help emulsify fats in our diet, or the ability to synthesise vitamin D.

Understanding cholesterol is important as not all cholesterol molecules are created equal.

Most people know that the good cholesterol (HDLs which are responsible for reducing the bad cholesterol) and bad cholesterol (LDLs) are circulating in our blood, but not many people know that there are VLDLs which are the precursor to LDLs and are known to be just as dangerous. VLDLs are synthesized by the liver and can be controlled via excretion through the body (i.e. Consuming foods that will move it out of the body).

However, did you know that in a typically healthy diet, only 30% of what you consume contributes to your cholesterol levels?
Endogenous cholesterol is the type that your body manufactures in the liver and exogenous cholesterol is that which comes from the food you consume. It is also interesting to note that the more cholesterol you eat, the less your body needs to ‘create’ and vice versa.

So completely eradicating certain foods from the diet will not automatically result in a huge reduction in total cholesterol – which was once the presumption. However adding certain foods to your diet can help control the bad VLDLs and LDLs.
Just because someone has high levels of cholesterol in the blood does not necessarily indicate a health risk, sure it is a factor to consider, but it would need to be factored in with blood pressure, stress levels and diet. It is only when the LDLs are oxidised in the blood stream is when they become a health threat and result in the development of early atherosclerosis. These oxidised LDLs in the arteries, called plaques are the main causes of heart attacks and strokes.

So, consider a person who has genetically high cholesterol, and has a healthy diet with a wide variety of antioxidant rich fresh fruits and vegetables, the occasional meat dish, small amounts of dairy and high fibre foods, with normal blood pressure, low stress in their life and exercises regularly. While their test results would indicate they would have high cholesterol it would be unlikely that their arteries would be filled with plaques. If however that same person, had high blood pressure was stressed out all the time, there would be need for concern. By helping to reduce their stress and blood pressure, it would mean that this patient would not need to take medication for their cholesterol.

Article by Victoria Tsoleridis
Clinical Nutritionist