How To Lower Your Ldl Cholesterol – Cholesterol is probably the most misunderstood nutrient. For many of us, function is the bogeyman, so many articles are out there promising to give you the most effective natural way to lower cholesterol.
It’s understandable how he plays the role. After all, statistics can be overwhelming. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists some alarming facts about cholesterol:
How To Lower Your Ldl Cholesterol
After reviewing these fun facts, you may wish you could eliminate all cholesterol from your body. If you can get that, however, you will soon regret it. Cholesterol actually performs several important functions in the body, such as helping to keep cell walls flexible and facilitating the production of several hormones.
Low Levels Of Hdl (the “good” Cholesterol) Appear Connected To Many Health Risks, Not Just Heart Disease
Before diving into the recommendations for very useful strategies to optimize cholesterol levels, let’s understand what cholesterol is, how it works in the body, and the relationship between dietary cholesterol and blood cholesterol.
Cholesterol, in the simplest terms, is a fatty substance made by the liver. As mentioned above, the body needs some cholesterol for certain important functions. However, when it starts to accumulate, it can cause problems.
Cholesterol belongs to a category of particles called blood lipids. In fact, cholesterol is the most famous blood lipid. While the term “blood lipids” technically refers to fat particles circulating in the bloodstream, the term is used to refer to particles in the blood that are a combination of lipids and proteins, like cholesterol.
Because cholesterol is a combination of lipids and proteins, the particles that contain cholesterol in the blood are called lipoproteins. These include high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL). The other main type of fat in the blood is triglycerides, so named because they are formed when three fatty acid molecules join together.
How To Increase ‘good’ Hdl Cholesterol
Each type of lipoprotein affects health in different ways. Too much low-density lipoprotein, for example, can build up in the walls of blood vessels, causing clogged arteries, strokes, heart attacks, and even kidney failure. High-density lipoprotein, however, actually removes cholesterol deposits from the walls of blood vessels, thus reducing the risk of the same health effects.
So, when we talk about finding ways to lower cholesterol, the proper target of that strategy is low-density lipoprotein, not high-density lipoprotein.
The liver is the main site of fatty acid and cholesterol production. Fatty acids produced in the liver combine to form triglycerides. While triglycerides and cholesterol are made in the liver, the liver is not equipped to store much of it. As a result, they are packed with proteins and secreted into the blood as very high density lipoproteins (VLDL).
VLDL molecules are the main transporters of fat from the liver to peripheral fat stores. When VLDL circulates in the blood, it deposits fatty acids and cholesterol in adipose tissue – otherwise known as body fat.
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I should briefly note here that not all triglycerides produced by the liver are excreted as VLDL—some may be secreted as triglycerides directly into the blood. This is another way that fatty acids are transferred from the liver to adipose tissue for storage.
Adipose tissue is the proper storage place for triglycerides. Larger amounts of fat can be stored in adipose tissue. Under normal conditions, fat can be stored in adipose tissue without any harmful effects on overall health, although excessive storage of triglycerides is a factor in obesity.
Triglycerides in VLDL molecules are taken up by adipose tissue thanks to a protein called lipoprotein lipase. This enzyme is not completely effective, but causes incomplete clearance of VLDL by adipose tissue. Fat that remains in the blood becomes low-density lipoprotein (LDL), which returns to the liver, which is removed from the blood or taken up by other cells in the body. This is the main route for delivering cholesterol to the body’s tissues.
Special receptors in the membrane of the liver and other tissues play an important role in taking cholesterol from LDL molecules. If the cholesterol in LDL is taken up by the liver, then it is metabolized and removed from the body. Conversely, cholesterol taken up by other tissues can remain and interfere with normal body functions.
Home Remedies For Low Density Lipoprotein: The Bad Cholesterol
I previously mentioned that low-density lipoproteins have earned the nickname “bad” cholesterol. As you already know, or can understand, it makes high-density lipoprotein (HDL) the “good” cholesterol, mostly because it clears LDL from the blood.
HDL cholesterol, also released by the liver, carries unabsorbed and unused cholesterol back to the liver in a process called reverse cholesterol transport. It keeps your arteries free from cholesterol build-up, which can reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.
The more HDL in the bloodstream compared to LDL, the faster the cholesterol will be cleared by the liver, broken down, and excreted. When evaluating your cholesterol levels, doctors usually test and give serious weight to your LDL:HDL ratio.
During the physical examination, it is routine to measure the blood lipid concentration, and if the value is out of the normal range, treatment options are recommended. This gives us a very different feeling that blood lipids are all bad.
How To Tell Good Cholesterol From Bad Cholesterol
While elevated levels of some of the blood lipids are indeed associated with bad health outcomes, let’s consider some of the beneficial roles of blood lipids.
Cholesterol plays many roles in the body, including helping the body produce certain hormones, vitamin D, and enzymes that help digest food. Cell membranes are mostly composed of lipids. However, problems arise when you have high cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels, or both. Excess is never a good thing.
LDL, as previously discussed, has the reputation of being the worst blood lipid. The cholesterol in LDL can accumulate and form plaques that harden the arteries. This condition is called atherosclerosis.
Cholesterol-rich plaque can clog arteries, leaving less room for blood to circulate. Plaques can also rupture, which causes platelets to arrive at the rupture site and form a blood clot. If the clot is large enough, it can block blood flow. If it occurs in the vessels that supply blood to the heart, it will cause a heart attack, and if it occurs in the vessels that supply blood to the brain, it will cause a stroke.
What Is Ldl Cholesterol?
Triglycerides are also a risk factor for atherosclerosis and, therefore, heart attacks and strokes. Recently, doctors have paid more attention to elevated triglyceride levels because it is one of the underlying factors that lead to metabolic syndrome. The accumulation of triglycerides in the liver, in particular, has been shown to lead to the progression of metabolic syndrome, which is a precursor to diabetes. This means that the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic syndrome is important to prevent diabetes.
A class of drugs called statins are prescribed to lower LDL cholesterol levels. While statins are usually effective, there are side effects – most commonly, muscle pain. The side effects of statins can be pronounced especially in the elderly. In some cases, the muscle pain can be reduced by switching to a different statin, or by taking a dietary supplement called Coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10. One of the side effects of statins is the depletion of CoQ10, and since CoQ10 contributes to the body’s energy production system, it can be beneficial to restore healthy levels.
There are other medications to lower LDL levels, including cholesterol absorption inhibitors, fibrates, and niacin. Again, all these drugs generally have side effects. Cholesterol absorption inhibitors that block fat absorption can cause diarrhea, fibrates can impair normal liver function (again, especially in older people), and niacin can cause itching and redness.
Note that while these drugs may help lower cholesterol, they usually do not affect triglyceride levels. Fibrates are the most effective prescription drugs for lowering triglycerides, but side effects on the liver limit their use.
How To Lower Cholesterol Without Medication
In addition, of these drugs, only fibrates can effectively reduce triglycerides, and adverse effects on the liver limit their use.
Thus, although there are several prescription drug options that have been shown to effectively lower LDL cholesterol levels, most do not address high triglyceride levels. That, in combination with the various potential side effects associated with these drugs, has inspired many people to look for more natural ways to lower cholesterol.
The cholesterol myth is still going strong: you can lower your cholesterol by eliminating cholesterol from your diet. This is a fallacy. Cholesterol in the blood is produced in the liver, not absorbed from the food we eat.
Although food manufacturers continue to sell products that are low in cholesterol, the truth is that dietary cholesterol has little effect on the amount of cholesterol circulating in the body. One reason is the liver’s ability to change the amount of cholesterol it produces in response to the amount of cholesterol in your diet. If you take in more cholesterol from the food you eat, the liver will reduce its production of cholesterol.
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