Cholesterol itself isn’t bad. It’s actually vital for you to live! Unfortunately, the conventional medical model for addressing high cholesterol is lacking. Most often the one size fits all solution is to prescribe statin medications. While statin medications will decrease the amount of cholesterol in your blood, they don’t address the underlying root cause, and they typically come with unwanted side effects.

Here are five things that you might not know about cholesterol:

1. Size matters! The size of your lipid particles should be assessed to truly assess risk. To determine the size of these particles, an additional test is needed called the NMR lipid Profile. This comprehensive test gives us both the number and size, which gives us a better understanding of your risk for heart disease. 
2. There is an intimate connection between cholesterol and carbs/sugar. Anything that provokes an increase in blood sugar, such as refined, processed carbs, will also provoke an increase in “bad” cholesterol (or small LDL particles). Anything that keeps blood sugar from increasing, such as proteins, healthy fats, fasting, and reduction of refined, processed carbohydrates, reduces small LDL particles. 
3. Cholesterol is essential for the production of hormones. 
4. Cholesterol levels increase with menopause. Estrogen helps to regulate cholesterol levels by increasing the liver’s ability to remove LDL cholesterol from the bloodstream. Estrogen also helps to increase levels of HDL cholesterol, which helps remove LDL cholesterol from the arteries. As estrogen declines in menopause, total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol) increases and HDL cholesterol (“good” cholesterol) decreases.
5. Hypothyroidism is a major cause of elevated cholesterol.

It is imperative for your overall health to learn about your cholesterol levels and particle sizes. From there you can advocate for yourself and take action to help keep your levels in a healthy range. The good news is that small changes in diet and lifestyle can lead to big changes in a short time, especially if you have the support of a group behind you.

If you are struggling with high cholesterol consider joining our upcoming Cholesterol Group Visit series to provide you with nutrition, lifestyle and supplement recommendations, all with the support of the doctor and a group of other patients to help you succeed.  

Editor’s Note: The information in this article is intended for your educational use only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health practitioners with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and before undertaking any diet, supplement, fitness, or other health program.