Applied Science

What is Cholesterol?

• Cholesterol is a fatty subtance that is mainly produced in the liver from saturated fats in food.
• Saturated fats are a type of fat found mostly in animal products such as meat, lard or full fat dairy products.
• It has a vital role in the fuctioning of cell membranes throughout the body. it is also used for making hormones and for bile acids that help in the digestion of fats. Howeer, only a small amount of cholesterol is needed by your body to keep it healthy.

Carrying Cholesterol around the Body

Cholesterol is insoluble in the blood so it is transported to cells and tissues using special blood protein called lipoproteins.

• Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL) carry cholesterol from the liver to the cells and tissues
• High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) carry excess cholesterol that is not needed by the body back into to liver