Thread by @EmmySobieski

Cholesterol Truth & Lies

There are so many myths, truths and lies.

I am on Keto, so I eat a lot of fat, and often am asked if that is bad for my cholesterol.

Others ask if cholesterol is even tied to heart disease.

🧵

Eat Fat vs Make Fat: Our Livers Make Cholesterol

🎯 Cholesterol: needed for critical processes including healthy cell linings throughout our body.

🎯 We make our own cholesterol via Lipogenesis.

🎯 When insulin-resistant, our livers produce LDL, the small “bad” cholesterol

Brain health and cholesterol

🎯 Our brains are 2% of our body weight and contain 20-25% of our total cholesterol.

🎯 Our brain makes its own cholesterol and some can also cross the blood-brain barrier.

🎯 Cholesterol is brain protective.

Nutrient-rich foods contain cholesterol

🎯 Some of the most nutrient-rich foods like liver and eggs contain cholesterol

🎯 We generate dangerous cholesterol through our liver when we eat processed foods

Toxic Combo: Processed/fast foods and cholesterol

🎯 WORST source of cholesterol is fast foods

🎯 Oils and chemicals are inflammatory

🎯 Type of cholesterol is dangerous

Inflammation is Enemy #1

🎯 Inflammation: common factor in chronic disease, including cancer

🎯 High blood pressure, metabolic disease, diabetes are inflammatory

🎯 Inflammatory cholesterol markers correlate with heart disease, ie triglycerides, and LDL.

Untangling the Knot: LDL and HDL Cholesterol

🎯 LDL has low density of protein, more cholesterol, deposits cholesterol in arteries.

🎯 HDL, has a high density of protein, is large fluffy, and picks up cholesterol in arteries and drops them off at the liver.

🎯 LDL/HDL cutoff is somewhat arbitrary, and doesn’t show if the composition of each

What else? 👇