Cholesterol has certainly gotten a bad reputation. Fear has been driven throughout our population that cholesterol = bad!! After the age of 35-40 when routine cholesterol and blood lipid testing begins, doctors are looking at your cholesterol levels and if you are not falling between the average reference range, it is common for your MD to place you on a drug called Lipitor (or its equivalents), all of which will inhibit your cholesterol production. Like anything in life it is important to maintain balance and that doesn’t change when it comes to Cholesterol. Although, it is equally important to have the mind set of “treating the cause of why your cholesterol is high,” instead of having the mindset “your cholesterol is high lets stop its production!” While fats in the diet have received a lot of bad press, the major overlooked factor of fat problems in the blood are actually from inadequate liver and gall bladder function. The liver and gallbladder regulate blood fat levels. When these organs are rendered sluggish by intestinal toxins, they don’t regulate adequately. This is the single most important cause of high blood fat levels. So before jumping to Lipitor it may make more sense to treat the liver and gall bladder first.

Your liver makes about 80% cholesterol for your body and the rest about 20% comes from animal products that you eat, such as meats, eggs, and dairy products. Don’t let the fear of cholesterol make you cut out fats from your diet completely; it is extremely important to eat healthy fats such as unsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, found in avocados, nuts and fish. The fats you really need to completely remove from your diet are trans fats (found in processed foods and deep fried foods) these fats are extremely difficult for your body to break down and remove so they stay stuck, the other fats you should limit are saturated fats because they can be inflammatory (found in red meats).

Lets take a look at the functions Cholesterol has in your body. This clarification will inform you on why cholesterol should not always be viewed with a negative reference:

 1.  Cholesterol makes up part of the cell membrane of every single cell in your body. It helps to stabilize the structure of the cell.

 

 

 

 

2.  Cholesterol is the very first substance used by the body to manufacture sex hormones such as testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and steroid hormones like cortisol. Combined, these hormones control countless biological functions.

 

 

 

 3.  Cholesterol helps the liver produce bile acids. These acids are essential for digestion of fats and for eliminating wastes from the body.

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Cholesterol makes up an important part of the myelin sheath of your nerve cells that insulates the nerves so that electrical activity can be properly contained and stream lined to ensure your brain and nerve interactions are intact.

 

5.  Cholesterol has lots of beneficial effects on the human body’s immune system and an unexpected clinical finding showed that some vegetarians have actually developed chronic infections from a deficiency of cholesterol.

So as you can see cholesterol is essential for human existence and there is a great need for you to maintain healthy fats in your diet. In contrast, when there is an excess of bad cholesterol also known as LDL (low density lipoproteins), there can be an excess of cholesterol deposits in the arteries. This correlates with the fear of cardiovascular disease risks, and there are several studies that show that eating too many saturated and trans fats can cause this.

In a situation where a patient has high cholesterol the first line of choice when it comes to an MD controlling cholesterol would be to place the patient on Lipitor or its equivalent. Lipitor is a synthetic lipid-lowering agent. It inhibits the enzyme used to make cholesterol. You can see on the diagram below where this step occurs. Lipitor stops the production of cholesterol high up in the pathway, which also means that your body cannot produce the other significant products that this pathway is supposed to produce. Two of the products are Ubiquinone (the active form of CoQ10; that is cardio protective and used to produce energy in the body) and Heme-A which is part of your red blood cells used to move oxygen around in your body (your heart needs a healthy supply of oxygen always). So why are so many people in the present day population on lipid inhibitors?? People do not have a deficiency in Lipitor; they may however have a sluggish liver and gall bladder and be eating the wrong foods that may be contributing to an increased faulty regulation of cholesterol in the body. So again consider treating your liver and gall bladder, promote a healthy lifestyle and diet first and be cautious of a drug that will inhibit its production and cause several other side effects.