Q: Can you explain the difference between fat and cholesterol? 

A: This is an excellent question and one that I am asked about frequently in the clinic. Cholesterol is a type of fat that exists in all our cell membranes. It is vital for such functions as nerve transmission, the formation of vitamin D – needed for bone health, the manufacture of our sex hormones and of some of our stress hormones, and for the formation of bile. So you can see that having enough cholesterol is important. Approximately, 80% of cholesterol is produced in your liver – only 20% comes directly from your diet. 

 

Cholesterol is only found in animal products such as meat, dairy products, butter and eggs. So foods with fats do not necessarily contain cholesterol. It is not found in vegetable products, for example, so although an avocado or olive contains fat they do not contain cholesterol. 

 

It is often easy to see if a food contains fat but difficult to know if it contains cholesterol. So an egg can contain good levels of both fat and cholesterol, whereas vegetables contain low levels of both. Then you have the foods like shellfish, which contain very little fat but a high level of cholesterol, and nut butters (like peanut butter), which are high in fat and low in cholesterol. 

 

Cholesterol has to travel in the bloodstream and in order to do this it is combined with a protein. When combined with this protein, the cholesterol is then called a lipoprotein. There are two main types of lipoprotein that carry cholesterol around your body. Low density lipoproteins (LDL- ‘bad’) are responsible for carrying cholesterol to the artery wall, while the other high density lipoprotein (HDL – ‘good’) helps to return cholesterol to the liver. If you have high LDL then this can deposit on damaged and inflamed arterial walls. These deposits, which also consist of saturated fats and calcium (that is why cardiologists talk about calcification of arteries), are called arterial plaque or atheroma. The balance of these two lipoproteins in the blood is more important than the total cholesterol.

 

In the Star Question next month, I will cover how to reduce cholesterol and LDL naturally. 

 

 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 12:20 am and is filed under Ask Marilyn - Star Questions, General Health, Heart Disease. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.