Cholesterol May Be Your Best Friend!

Why We Can't Live Without It

How can this be so? How can cholesterol be so important to our health and yet characterized as a "poison" by some? Well, the "they" who characterize cholesterol as "bad" (or "good" for that matter) may not realize just what cholesterol does in our bodies. We can produce cholesterol from carbohydrate, fat or protein! It is so important that the body can use various substrates to produce it, an almost sure guarantee that we won't run out!

Let's look at the basics of cholesterol, what it's used for in our bodies. We are able to convert cholesterol into "vitamin" D, cortisol, vital hormones including DHEA, progesterone, testosterone and estrogen. Cholesterol is incorporated into our cell membranes and is one of the primary lipids in brain tissue! Does that sound like a poison to you?

I put "vitamin" D in quotes for emphasis and to get your attention. Vitamin D is actually a hormone, but that's another lecture! In short, it is produced in one part of the body (the skin) with it's actions elsewhere (GI tract, brain, and kidneys to name a few!) which is why it acts as a hormone instead of a vitamin. The point here is that it is produced basically from cholesterol, in the skin, in the presence of UV light from the sun. It then travels to the liver and kidneys where it becomes activated. We can make up to 10,000 units of vitamin D with 30 minutes or so in the sun. So in truth, we don't really know what our dietary intake should be if we can't get enough sunshine... again, topic for another lecture! Biochemically vitamin D is almost identical to cholesterol... now that is something to think about!