The other side of cholesterol is little known

If you eat an egg each day containing 200mg of cholesterol, the liver will produce an additional 800 mg of cholesterol.

Cholesterol in the body is often bad. Most people who hear cholesterol are afraid, because it is a cause of cardiovascular disease. Excess cholesterol, or high cholesterol, builds up plaque on the artery walls. Gradually, it clogs blood vessels leading to heart attacks.

But that is just a blatant look. If you study carefully, cholesterol also helps you stay healthy. Although we test blood to measure cholesterol, these molecules are present in every cell of the body. Without cholesterol, you will not be able to live.

Cholesterol clogs blood vessels and causes a heart attack, but it is just a superficial view.

A document from Harvard University explains: "Cholesterol is a white yellow wax fat, and is an important ingredient in cell membrane construction ." The body also uses cholesterol to synthesize vitamin D, many hormones including testosterol and estrogen, fat-soluble bile acids .

In fact, cholesterol is so important that the body must produce itself to serve its needs. Your liver and intestines produce up to 80% of your cholesterol. If you eat foods that contain cholesterol like chicken egg yolk, don't worry, they normally contribute only 20%.

Take the example, for example, you eat an egg every day, equivalent to 200 mg of cholesterol. Of course, this amount is not enough for the body to use. The liver will have to produce an additional 800 mg of cholesterol from raw materials like fat, sugar and protein.

And because cholesterol is a fat , it cannot move itself in blood vessels. Suppose if this happens, it will thicken, cling to the vein like a food frying pan all day and dry up grease.

But the smart body has packed cholesterol molecules, as well as other fats into a protein coating, making it easily transported in the blood stream. These tiny proteins are called lipoproteins (lipids associated with proteins).

Cholesterol and other lipids are introduced into the bloodstream in various forms. Among these things, the most commonly mentioned is low-density lipoprotein (LDL cholesterol) cholesterol or simply 'bad' cholesterol .

LDL has its useful task, which is to provide cholesterol to tissues throughout the body. But on the one hand, it will become 'bad cholesterol' when appearing too much in the blood and carrying more cholesterol than the body needs.

When LDL is still circulating in your blood, they can break down and release cholesterol, which should have been transferred to cells. At this time, cholesterol will bind to the vascular wall and the risk of cardiovascular disease as you know it appears.

Even so, LDL is only one of many forms and sizes of lipoproteins. Each type has its own mission and they can be changed from one form to another.

Here are 5 main types of liporotein, corresponding to the cholesterol you should know. Not all of them are bad:

Types of cholesterol in the body.

1. Chylomicron are very large particles containing the main ingredient, triglycerides (fatty acids from your food). They are created in the digestive system and are therefore affected by what you have eaten.
2. Very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) transports triglycerides to tissues. But they are made in the liver. When the body's cells receive fatty acids from VLDL, these particles will turn into medium-density IDL lipoprotein and then low density lipoprotein LDL.
3. Medium density lipoprotein (IDL) forms as a VLDL of fatty acid removal. Some IDLs are resolved quickly and eliminated by the liver, but some are converted into low-density lipoproteins.
4. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) carries large amounts of cholesterol, because most of their triglycerides have disappeared. LDL is called bad cholesterol because it can provide excess cholesterol to the tissue and is closely related to plaque buildup on the arteries.
5. L high-density ipoprotein (HDL) is called " good" cholesterol because they remove cholesterol from circulation, clean up bad cholesterol in the arteries and bring them back to the liver for excretion.