Cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance found in every cell in your body that is required to maintain good health. When it is in the right amount, your body uses it to produce hormones and vitamin D while assisting digestion. However, too much cholesterol can pose a problem. At unhealthy levels, cholesterol can lead to high blood cholesterol (BLOOD CHOLESTEROL, 2022).
Cholesterol comes from two key sources: your liver, which manufactures all the cholesterol you need, and dietary animal sources, such as meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products. These nutritional sources are typically higher in dietary fats: saturated and trans fats, which comprise the rest of the cholesterol in the body. These dietary fats can cause your liver to produce more cholesterol than needed. An overconsumption of animal products high in saturated fats from unhealthy eating patterns, combined with the genes you inherit from your parents, can lead some people to elevated harmful cholesterol levels (Lordan et al., 2018).
Types of Cholesterol Levels
There are two main types of cholesterol in your blood that the lipoproteins carry and also subgroups of LDL cholesterol levels:
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), sometimes called “bad” cholesterol.
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL), sometimes called “good” cholesterol.