OPENSESEM2

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BY ALI HASSAN

OPENSESEM E.ZINE

VOLIUM 1 ISSUE 3
12/30/2001

Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a lipid that is an important constituent of body cells and widly distributed through out the body.It is especially abundant in the brain,nervous tissue,adrenal gland and skin.It is also found in egg yalk and gallstones.It plays an important role in the body,being essential for the production of the sex hormones,plus the regain of membranes.It is also the source from which bile acids are manufactured.The total amountin the body of a man weighing 70 kgs [10 stones] is around 140 grams,and the amount present in the blood is 3-6 to 7-8 m.mol per litre or 150 to 250 milligrams per 100 millilitres. A high blood-cholesterol level [over 6 m.mol per litre or 238 mg per 100 ml] is undesirable as these may be be a correlation between a high cholesterol and atheroma,the form of arterial degenerative disease associated with coronary thrombosis and high blood pressure.This well exemplified in diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism,two diseases in which there is high blood cholesterol,sometimes going as high as 20 m.mol per litre.Patients with these diseases are particularly prone to arterial disease.There is also a familial disease known as hypercholesterolemia,in which members of affected families have a blood-cholesterol arround 18 m.mol per litre,or more,and are particularly liable to premature degenerative disease of the arteries.
Cholesterol exsists in two forms in the blood:High-density lipoprotiens[HDLS]which are belived to protect against arterial disese,and a Low-density version [LDLS]and very low density type [VLDLS],these latter two being risk factors.The rising incidence of arterial disease in Western Countries in recent years has drawn attention to this relationship between high levels of cholesterol in the blood and arterial disease.The available evidence indicates that there is a relationship between blood-cholesterol levels and the amount of fat consumed.However ,the blood-cholesterol level bears little relationship with the amount of cholesterol consumed.Most of the cholesterol in the body being produced by the body itself.
On the other hand, diets high in saturated fatty acids,chiefly animal fats such as red meat,butter and dripping,tend to raise the blood-cholesterol level; while foods high in unsaturated fatty acids, chiefly vegetable products such as olive and sunflower oils,and oily fish such as mackrel and herrings tend to lower it.
there is a tendency in Western socity to eat too much animal fat, and current health recomendations are for everyone to decrease saturated fat intake , increase unsaturated-fat intake , increase daily exercise, and avoid obesity.
This advice is particularly important for people with high bloo-cholesterol level , with diabetes mellitus , or a history of coronary thrombosis.
Ali Hassan,
http://www.oocities.org/masternetuk
masternetuk@yahoo.co.uk
x21x12@hotmail.com
Tel.:966-732-9195.