Cholesterol: Fact Or Fiction?

This one is a really hot topic: is too much cholesterol bad or not? Make your own opinion by reading my short post and some of the references (linked) if you are particularly interested in the topic.

Physiological role

Cholesterol is a lipid which is vital for us since it is an essential component of cell membranes, guaranteeing structural fluidity and integrity. Without cholesterol your body would not be able to produce more prominent molecules like:

• the bile acids, important for digestion of lipids
• androgens (testosteron), estrogens, progestogens (“sex hormones“)
• vitamin D responsible for calcium metabolism
• mineralocorticoids regulating electrolyte and fluid balance
• glucocorticoids regulating glucose metabolism

Regulation

Cholesterol can be either taken up from animal sources (cholesterol from plants has not a good bioavailability) or your body produces it from other fats.

As every molecule, which plays such a central role in our body, cholesterol levels are thightly regulated. This means you can not influence your cholesterol blood levels by eating more or less of the foods which are high in cholesterol like eggs, meat and diary products. Your body will respond by taking up more or less from the dietary sources or producing more or less of it.

Health

• The thight regulation is the reason why dietary cholesterol may not play such a crucial role as risk factor for cardiovasculary diseases even if we have been told so. I do not want to go too deep in this topic as it exceeds the intention of the post, so please refer to the linked publication.
• Nevertheless an intake of cholesterol of at least 7,2mg/kg bodyweight may be beneficial for your muscle growth and strength development.

Take home message

• If you are not vegan: EAT YOUR YOLKS, people! It’s good for your muscle gainz 😉 Other good sources are dairy and meat.
• If you are vegan: comsume more (saturated) fat so that the body can produce its own and you can profit from the gainz too 😉 . Good vegan sources include coconut oil and cocoa butter.

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