Your body makes cholesterol.
Lots of it.
You need cholesterol to build cell membranes. Your body uses it to make steroid hormones and vitamin D. Your brain contains a remarkable amount of it.
In fact, your body considers cholesterol important enough that it doesn’t depend on you eating it.
It makes its own.
So here’s a question I’ve wondered about:
If cholesterol is essential to life, why have we spent decades talking about it like it’s poison?
Turns out that’s not quite the right question.
Cholesterol Isn’t the Bad Guy
Let’s clear this up first.
You need cholesterol.
Without it, you’re dead.
So when somebody says simply “cholesterol is bad,” that’s obviously too simplistic.
But cholesterol doesn’t float freely through your bloodstream.
Because it’s a waxy substance that doesn’t dissolve in water, your body packages and transports it inside particles called lipoproteins.
That’s where LDL enters the conversation.
LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein.
And here’s where the science becomes considerably …
