See something needing your input? Click here to Join us in providing quality, expert-guided information to the public for free! Wed., May 15: Monthly donation day for May 2013.. Help keep Citizendium online. - Donate here |
Cholesterol
From Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium
Cholesterol is a lipid that is the "principal sterol of all higher animals, distributed in body tissues, especially the brain and spinal cord, and in animal fats and oils."[1]
There is much confusion, in the lay press, between cholesterol itself, and the lipoproteins that carry it in the blood. References to "bad cholesterol" are misleading because cholesterol is cholesterol, but cholesterol carried by low-density lipoproteins (LDL) tend to increase atherosclerosis while cholesterol carried by high-density lipoproteins (HDL) tend to decrease it.
Contents |
Disorders of cholesterol
Hypercholesterolemia may contribute to coronary heart disease, stroke, and other complications.
Hypoalphalipoproteinemia is abnormally low levels of alpha-lipoproteins (high-density lipoproteins or HDL) in the blood. Low levels of high-density lipoproteins in the blood is a component of the metabolic syndrome.
Treatment
References
- ↑ Anonymous (2013), Cholesterol (English). Medical Subject Headings. U.S. National Library of Medicine.
while those pointing down are called
.