Cholesterol……Where do we begin? Is it the villain we have been pressed to believe? Is it the killer that your doctor and most published research articles try to convince us it is? Can we trust the pharmaceutical companies that make billions of dollars annually from statin drugs to tell us the truth about their cash cow?
Cholesterol has proven to be a very complex and confusing topic due to the unrelenting press and advertising campaigns to promote an idea that cholesterol is bad. Combine this with testing that is confusing at best and not easily explained by doctors (what are LDLs, HDLs and Triglycerides anyway???) and we have the perfect opportunity to control people through fear. I know….I know, I sound like one of those conspiracy theorists decrying government mind control and big pharma, but I think that most of you have real concerns about this information and what effects (if any) these can have on your health.
So let’s just list a few things that cholesterol is responsible for in the human body and then ask some common sense questions in the follow up articles.
Cholesterol is converted by the liver to bile acids that are critical for digestion and absorption of fats and fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) in the small intestine.
Cholesterol is required to build and maintain cell membranes, reducing the permeability of the plasma membrane to neutral solutes, hydrogen ions, and sodium ions.
In other words without cholesterol to hold things together our cells would fall apart
Anything and everything would have open access into the cells
Cholesterol is an important precursor molecule for the synthesis of vitamin D and the steroid hormones, including the adrenal gland hormones cortisol and aldosterone, as well as the sex hormones progesterone, estrogens, and testosterone, and their derivatives.
Cholesterol is a major component of the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerves providing insulation for a more efficient conduction of impulses.
With this point in mind, there are several studies showing that low cholesterol numbers lead to depression and suicide:
University of Minnesota researchers found that people with total cholesterol levels lower than 160 mg/dL were more likely to commit suicide than those with higher cholesterol levels. (JD, 1992)
Cholesterol and blood fat levels were found to be lower, on average, among patients with bipolar disorder who had attempted suicide than bipolar patients who had not. (Vuksan-Ćusa, 2009)
The results of a 2008 study of hospitalized psychiatric patients suggested that low cholesterol may be associated with suicide attempts.
A study of men aged 40 to 70 found that the men with long-term, low total cholesterol levels "have a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms" compared to those with higher cholesterol levels. (Steegmans, 2000)
When Swedish researchers compared cholesterol measurements of nearly 80,000 men and women to subsequent arrests for violent crime, they came to the conclusion that "low cholesterol is associated with increased subsequent criminal violence." (Golomb, 2000)
In fact, some research indicates that cholesterol may even act as an anti-oxidant
Below is a flow chart showing the conversion of cholesterol into:
Cholesterol is so important to our health that the our bodies make what they need in the cells themselves or get what they need via transport by Triglycerides from the liver (Dikkers & Tietge, 2010).
Another fact concerning cholesterol, is that most cholesterol eaten in our diets is in a form that is poorly absorbed. The body compensates for any absorption of additional cholesterol through diet by reducing cholesterol synthesis (JM & de Lorgeril M, 2011). This means that diet does not affect overall cholesterol levels long term.
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!
Yep. Eating that steak and egg breakfast might raise your levels a bit for about seven hours but after that cholesterol will show little, if any, effect on total body cholesterol content or concentrations of cholesterol in the blood (C, 1994).
So given these facts, why has cholesterol become the villain, and why is it accused of killing so many and causing all these heart conditions? We will look at that in our next article.
Works Cited
Bowen, R. (2001, November 23). Secretion of Bile and the Role of Bile Acids In Digestion. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from Colorado State: http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/digestion/liver/bile.html
C, D. (1994). Effects of increasing amounts of dietary cholesterol on postprandial lipemia and lipoproteins in human subjects. Journal of LIPID Research , 1993–2007.
Dikkers, A., & Tietge, U. J. (2010, December 21). Biliary cholesterol secretion: More than a simple ABC. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from World J Gastroenterol: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3007110/
Dr. Laura A. Corr, M. B., & Oliver, M. (1997). The low fat/low cholesterol diet is ineffective. European Heart Journal, 18-22.
Golomb, B. A. (2000, July). Low cholesterol and violent crime. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from Journal of Psychiatric Research: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022395600000248
Hanukoglu, I. (1992, December). Steroidogenic enzymes: Structure, function, and role in regulation of steroid hormone biosynthesis. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0960076092903075
JD, N. (1992, July). Serum cholesterol level and mortality findings for men screened in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial. Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial Research Group. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from PubMed.com: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1627030
JM, L., & de Lorgeril M. (2011, July). Dietary cholesterol: from physiology to cardiovascular risk. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2016, from PubMed.com: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21385506
Smith, L. (1991). Another cholesterol hypothesis: cholesterol as antioxidant. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from PUBMED.com: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1937129
Steegmans, P. H. (2000, March). Higher Prevalence of Depressive Symptoms in Middle-Aged Men With Low Serum Cholesterol Levels. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from Psychosomatic Medicine: http://journals.lww.com/psychosomaticmedicine/Abstract/2000/03000/Higher_Prevalence_of_Depressive_Symptoms_in.9.aspx
University of Minnesota. (2012, October 15). The Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). A national study of primary prevention of coronary heart disease. Retrieved January 2, 2015, from Heart Attack Prevention: http://www.epi.umn.edu/cvdepi/study-synopsis/multiple-risk-factor-intervention-trial-mrfit/
Vuksan-Ćusa, B. (2009, Feburary). Differences in cholesterol and metabolic syndrome between bipolar disorder men with and without suicide attempts. Retrieved Janurary 16, 2015, from Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278584608003217
W, P., & Ross MW. (2006). Histology: a text and atlas: with correlated cell and molecular biology. Philadelphia: Lippincott Wiliams & Wilkins.