OPINION: Why The Body Needs Cholesterol: The Myths And Facts, By Yejide Gbenga-Ogundare

Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that occurs naturally in the body which many believe is harmful to the body.  It is however a wrong belief because cholesterol is needed for the body to function by adding to the membrane structure of every cell in the human body.

Your body also needs it to make hormones and vitamin D, as well as perform various other important functions. Simply put, you could not survive without it.

Your body makes all the cholesterol it needs, but it also absorbs a relatively small amount of cholesterol from certain foods; eggs, meat, and full-fat dairy products.

So if cholesterol is beneficial, is there a class of cholesterol that is harmful? What are the facts and myths about cholesterol?

There is a general belief that cholesterol is bad for humans but the truth is that it is not all types of cholesterol that are bad; some are essential for good health and to perform important jobs, such as making hormones and building cells. This simply means that there are good and bad cholesterol which travels in the form of protein called lipoproteins.

Two types of lipoproteins are low-density lipoprotein (LDL), called bad cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) known as good cholesterol. Too much LDL cholesterol build up in the walls of the blood vessels and is called plaque.

HDL carries cholesterol back to the liver which flushes it from the body and lower your risk for heart disease and stroke while plaque when it builds up over time,  narrows and restrict or eventually block blood flow to and from the heart and other organs; this can lead to chest pain or a heart attack.

Also, it is a false assumption to believe that you would be able to feel it if you have high cholesterol. There is usually no warning signs for high cholesterol and it is usually too late by the time it is discovered.

An obvious sign of high cholesterol levels is yellowish growths on the skin which are cholesterol-rich deposits called xanthomas

Some believe that foods with a lot of cholesterol will not affect their cholesterol level but this might be dangerous because a lot of cholesterol have a lot of saturated fat which can make cholesterol numbers higher; it’s better to eat food that is lower in saturated fats.

It’s also wrong to hold the belief that nothing can be done to change cholesterol levels because there are steps that can help improve cholesterol levels to stay healthy; making healthy food choices and avoiding saturated fats, engage in physical activity, avoiding smoking and tobacco.