Quotes About LDL

to the brain? One of the most common ways is through physical modification by glucose. Sugar molecules attach themselves to LDL and change the molecule's shape, rendering it less useful while increasing free radical production.

reduce the risk of LDL oxidation—not necessarily levels of LDL itself. A principal player in that risk of oxidation is higher levels of glucose; LDL is far more likely to become oxidized in the presence of sugar molecules that will bind to it and change its shape. Glycosylated

But a caveat: Once free radicals damage the LDL molecule, it's rendered much less capable of delivering cholesterol to the brain. In addition to oxidation destroying the LDL's function, sugar can also render it dysfunctional by binding to it and accelerating oxidation. And when that happens, LDL is no longer able to enter the astrocyte, a cell charged with nourishing neurons. In

Dietary cholesterol, for instance, has an insignificant effect on blood cholesterol. It might elevate cholesterol levels in a small percentage of highly sensitive individuals, but for most of us, it's clinically meaningless." At the same time, a diet high in carbohydrates is strongly associated with high triglycerides, low HDL, and the damaging particles of LDL, which is the killer profile.

we didn't know that HDL, triglycerides, and the size of your LDL (bad cholesterol) mattered more than total cholesterol.

cholesterol in the body is never a problem until it becomes oxidized. It's only this oxidized cholesterol—specifically, pattern B LDL cholesterol—that is a problem, because pattern B LDL molecules are the ones that adhere to the cell walls and initiate or accelerate the process of inflammation

If you have a pattern A cholesterol profile, most of your LDL cholesterol is the big, fluffy kind, which is great; but if you have a pattern B profile, most of your LDL cholesterol is composed of the small, dense, atherogenic particles that cause inflammation and ultimately plaque.

Niacin also reduces lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a). Lipoprotein(a) is basically a special kind of LDL, and it's a really bad one. This, folks, is the real cholesterol story! Lp(a) is an independent risk factor for heart disease and for heart attacks, yet it doesn't get as much attention as cholesterol does because there aren't effective drug treatments for lowering it, and no one really knows what to do about it. Niacin lowers Lp(a) levels by a remarkable 10 to 30 percent.

whereas a high-carbohydrate diet increases the concentration of unhealthy small LDL particles, as observed by P.W. Siri-Tarino, F.B. Hu, Q. Sun and R.M. Krauss in their paper 'Saturated fat, carbohydrate and cardiovascular disease'.

Some patients who suffer from significant LDL particle number increases on keto can reverse the trend by limiting saturated fat to fewer than 25 g and replacing the required fat calories with monounsaturated fats (e.g., macadamia nut oil, olive oil, limited avocado oil).

Individuals with a ratio of total to HDL cholesterol higher than 4 are considered to have an exceptionally high risk of developing heart disease. So, the higher your HDL cholesterol, the better. However, people with exceptionally low LDL cholesterol do not have to worry about their HDL level. You don't need the garbage collectors when there is no garbage.

The optimal LDL cholesterol level is probably 50 or 70 mg/dL, and apparently, the lower, the better.

To drastically reduce LDL cholesterol levels, you need to drastically reduce your intake of three things: trans fat, which comes from processed foods and naturally from meat and dairy; saturated fat, found mainly in animal products and junk foods; and to a lesser extent dietary cholesterol, found exclusively in animal-derived foods, especially eggs.

An LDL around 70 mg/dL corresponds to a total cholesterol reading of about 150, the level below which no deaths from coronary heart disease were reported in the famous Framingham Heart Study, a generations-long project to identify risk factors for heart disease.29

To drastically reduce LDL cholesterol levels, you need to drastically reduce your intake of three things: trans fat, which comes from processed foods and naturally from meat and dairy; saturated fat, found mainly in animal products and junk foods; and to a lesser extent dietary cholesterol, found exclusively in animal-derived foods, especially eggs.26 Notice

The optimal LDL cholesterol level is probably 50 or 70 mg/dL, and apparently, the lower, the better. That's

the only critical risk factor for atherosclerotic plaque buildup is cholesterol, specifically elevated LDL cholesterol in your blood.

LDL cholesterol stimulates the growth of breast cancer cells in a petri dish—they just gobble up the so-called bad cholesterol. Tumors may suck up so much cholesterol that cancer patients' cholesterol levels tend to plummet as their cancer grows.76

Excess cholesterol in the blood can lead to excess cholesterol in the brain, which may then help trigger the clumping of amyloid seen in Alzheimer's brains. Under an electron microscope, we can see the clustering of amyloid fibers on and around tiny crystals of cholesterol.85 And indeed, advanced brain imaging techniques, such as PET scans, have shown a direct correlation between the amount of LDL ("bad") cholesterol in the blood and amyloid buildup in the brain.

Amazingly, compared to the control group who ate no nuts at all, just a single serving of four Brazil nuts almost immediately improved cholesterol levels. LDL—the "bad"—cholesterol levels were a staggering twenty points lower just nine hours after eating the Brazil nuts.51 Even drugs don't work nearly that fast.52