Natural Cures - High Cholesterol
Here's a new garlic discovery I hope you will make use of: Researchers have discovered why freshly crushed garlic protects your heart.
That garlic has health benefits is nothing new. Since at least 1500 BC, healers in China and India have used the odiferous bulb as a blood thinner. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, used it to treat cervical cancer. Louis Pasteur reported on garlic's antibacterial and antifungal powers, which inspired Albert Schweitzer to use it against dysentery in Africa. ...... read more |
What is Cholesterol?
Cholesterol is a sterol (a combination steroid and alcohol).
Cholesterol is a lipid found in the cell membranes of all tissues, and it is transported in the blood plasma of all animals.
 Because cholesterol is synthesized by all eukaryotes, trace amounts of cholesterol are also found in membranes of plants and fungi.
The name originates from the Greek chole- (bile) and stereos (solid), and the chemical suffix -ol for an alcohol, as researchers first identified cholesterol in solid form in gallstones by François Poulletier de la Salle in 1769.
However, it is only in 1815 that chemist Eugène Chevreul named the compound "cholesterine". Most of the cholesterol is synthesized by the body and some has dietary origin.
Cholesterol is more abundant in tissues which either synthesize more or have more abundant densely-packed membranes, for example, the liver, spinal cord and brain.
It plays a central role in many biochemical processes, such as the composition of cell membranes and the synthesis of steroid hormones.
Cholesterol is insoluble in blood, but is transported in the circulatory system bound to one of the varieties of lipoprotein, spherical particles which have an exterior composed mainly of water-soluble proteins.
The main types, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) carry cholesterol from and to the liver. According to the lipid hypothesis, abnormally high cholesterol levels (hypercholesterolemia) and abnormal proportions of LDL and HDL are associated with cardiovascular disease by promoting atheroma development in arteries ( atherosclerosis ).
This disease process leads to myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke and peripheral vascular disease. As high LDL contributes to this process, it is termed "bad cholesterol", while high levels of HDL ("good cholesterol") offer a degree of protection. The balance can be redressed with exercise, a healthy diet, and sometimes medication.
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High Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a type of fat called a lipid . The body uses it for many things, such as :
- Making new cells and build the structure of cell membranes
- Make hormones like estrogen, testosterone and adrenaline
- Make work efficiently in our metabolism; for example, cholesterol is essential for the body to produce vitamin D
- Produce bile acids, which help the body digest fat and absorb important nutrients.
In fact cholesterol is essential to life. It's a compound a steroid, that occurs naturally in the body. Liver makes the cholesterol.
The body can get cholesterol from the foods example hamburgers, thickshakes, meats, egg yolk, butter, cheese etc.
The body needs some cholesterol. But if too much, the liver returns the cholesterol it can not use to the bloodstream. When there is too much cholesterol circulating in the bloodstream, it can build up into fatty deposits which can form calcium plaques .
These deposits cause the arteries to narrow (Arteries are the blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart.). This is called hardening of the arteries, or atherosclerosis . It is usually a slow process that gets worse as you get older.
 And can eventually block the arteries completely, leading to heart disease, heart attack , stroke and other conditions.
The other factors for atherosclerosis : smoking, overweight, and having high blood pressure. (To understand what happens, think about how a clog forms in the pipe under a kitchen sink. Like the buildup of grease in the pipe).
The trouble starts when you get too much cholesterol, when the intake of fats in your diet causes the levels of cholesterol in your blood to rise more than you need (normal).
A simple blood test can measure how much cholesterol in the body. The test results are given in mg/dL of cholesterol but people only talk about numbers. Cholesterol numbers help the doctor know the risk of heart attack. To know this risk, doctor will ask other factors like age, blood pressure, family history and smoke or not.
For a general idea about total cholesterol number :
| Best |
less than 200 |
| Borderline-high |
200 to 239 |
| HIGH CHOLESTEROL |
240 or above |
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