Do You Know Your ‘Good’ Cholesterol From Your ‘Bad’ One?

You may have heard of terms like HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol, and Triglycerides in relation to blood cholesterol check and often wondered what is this all about? Let us look at them and more importantly address these in the context of edible fats.

Ingested fats are digested as fatty acids and transported to the liver. The liver converts some of that into cholesterol; which is insoluble in blood and hence needs a carrier to travel in the blood stream. Lipoprotein is Cholesterol carrier in blood. Cholesterol is a vital blood component for life as several cellular functions; cell membrane formation and various hormone productions depend on them!

Cholesterol from the liver is bound to very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) that has triglycerides, cholesterol core and protein covering. In the blood stream, VLDL, gives away triglycerides and becomes low density lipoproteins (LDL) still carrying a substantial amount of cholesterol. Both LDLs and VLDLs are soft and spongy such that they can penetrate the inner lining of arteries (endothelium) causing deposition of fatty streaks between endothelium and the middle artery layer. In medical terms, this is called a plaque. A mature plaque with fibrous composition is a ‘stable plaque’. The one with a lot of fresh tiny fat particles is called an ‘unstable plaque’. Unstable plaque is more likely to rupture resulting in deposit of blood clot inside the lumen of the artery. Thus the lumen becomes narrowed, occludes completely and thereby blood supply to the organ supported by that artery is blocked. The organ doesn’t get much needed oxygen to survive and leads to a heart attack (if in the coronary arteries) or stroke (if in the brain arteries).

So, LDL and VLDL are BAD cholesterols.

As LDL courses through the blood stream, it gives away more and more cholesterol, becomes dense in the process and is called high density lipoprotein (HDL). HDLs, relatively, have the highest concentration of proteins, are too rigid and dense that they cannot pass through the arterial wall but, in fact, they transport cholesterol out of the blood stream back to the liver. It is also postulated that on their way to the liver, they may even remove cholesterol from the plaques, in the process helping the arteries stay ‘plaque healthy’. This way, HDL cholesterol could protect us from heart attack and stroke.

OK then, HDL is your friend as it is a GOOD cholesterol

In my next blog I shall expand on this telling you about blood levels of these complexes, evidence-based and highly sensitive relevant lipoprotein markers of heart disease risk prediction, and ways to reduce LDL and raise HDL cholesterol.