Focus on Cholesterol
Cholesterol: What it is and what it does… Cholesterol is a steroid manufactured by the liver. It is used by the body to synthesize various hormones including sex hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone) and adrenal hormones (cortisol, aldosterone, dehydroepiandosterone.) In the presence of sunlight cholesterol in the skin is turned into vitamin D. And in your brain it is converted into neurotransmitters. The liver manufactures approximately 1000 mg of cholesterol per day. What is not used is converted into bile salts and excreted from the body via the intestinal tract. Things that make cholesterol go up: A diet low in soluble fiber. Sometimes, when the diet is low in fiber, it is possible to reabsorb cholesterol through the intestinal wall, causing the level of cholesterol in the blood to rise. Most fibers, by the way, are types of carbohydrates that we can’t digest because we lack the necessary enzymes to break them down into sugar. Some fibers are water soluble. They dissolve...