For decades now, we have been fighting against this waxy substance that has been notorious for clogging arteries and have been killing a number of people every year. Almost all health experts and dietitians would suggest that we avoid this killer compound if we want to live a healthy life. But have we been condemning the right culprit or have we made a mistake?
In recent years, there have been new studies and new researches coming out regarding cholesterol. And these new studies are telling us that Cholesterol isn't really that bad for the body. In fact, Cholesterol is an important compound that our body needs in order to survive.
Cholesterol, apparently is the raw material used to make and regenerate cell membranes as well as the raw materials for steroid hormones. This is when the bad cholesterol and the good cholesterol was discovered.
According to pharmaceutical companies and advertisements and hundreds of marketing materials all over the traditional and non traditional media, there are two types of cholesterol, the High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Cholesterol and the Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Cholesterol. Between these two types of cholesterol, HDL was called the good cholesterol while LDL was the bad.
The distinction was made through the direction of these so called cholesterols. Since LDL molecules carry cholesterol from the liver (which is the primary source of cholesterol in the body) to the other tissues, it is referred as the bad cholesterol. And since HDL molecules take cholesterol from the tissues and brings them back to the liver, HDLs are referred as good cholesterols. But, what most people don't realize is that these aren't cholesterol. These are lipoproteins.
Lipoproteins are biomolecular compounds that act as vessels or transports of lipids from one point in the body to another. Since cholesterol is a fatty, waxy substance, it cannot travel within the aqueous blood stream. But since it is needed by the tissues, the body devised a way to deliver the compound from its source, the liver, to the other parts of the body using lipoproteins. These lipoproteins would store them within its core and deliver them to the tissues all over the body.
Based on the explanation of the process, it is obvious that HDL and LDL are not cholesterols. They are chemical compounds that contains both lipids and proteins. They may store cholesterol within their core for transport, but they (lipoproteins) are not cholesterol at all.
Usual belief states that LDLs are bad cholesterols because they are the primary cause of atherosclerosis but some specialists say that this is not the case.
What happens is that when LDLs get oxidized by free radicals, they become chemically unstable. When they get in contact with the endothelium, it will cause an inflammation which will activate the auto immune system of the body. The immune system will then, send macrophages which will try to repair the damaged cells and lipoproteins. The problem is that macrophages is a type of white blood cell which also is water based. This means that it can only process the protein part of the lipoprotein but not the lipid part nor the cholesterol it contains.
This will cause a rupture in the macrophages causing it to spread the oxidized cholesterol to the tissues around it. This in turn, will attract more macrophages in the area causing a formation of plaque within the endothelium. In the end, this part of the artery will harden due to the plaques of macrophages that formed.
If you think about it, it wasn't the cholesterol or the level of cholesterol that affected the formation of the plaque. It was the activation of the immune system as caused by the oxidation of the LDL. This means that whether your LDL level is high, as long as it doesn't get oxidized, you are not susceptible to the building of atheromatous plaques.
Based on these, it is safe to say that there isn't really a bad or good cholesterol. HDLs and LDLs are lipoproteins and not cholesterol at all. The cholesterol carried by the HDL or the LDL is the same chemical compound and therefore if one is bad, the other is supposed to be bad as well. In this case the distinction of good cholesterol and bad cholesterol shouldn't be used because no such thing exists.
The only thing we must remember is that LDLs are more susceptible to oxidation than HDLs. Therefore, decreasing the number of LDLs may help in avoiding oxidation. Also, since HDLs pick up cholesterol from the tissues within the body, an increase of HDL level may be beneficial as well to assist the macrophages in retrieving cholesterol from within the endothelium.
But what is most important to remember is if you are trying to prevent the occurrence of atherosclerosis, you should take in more anti oxidants. This is the best preventive method for any type of sickness.
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