Posted by Larry Hoover on August 2, 2004, at 10:18:58
In reply to would a low cholesterol diet reduce cortisol ?? (nm), posted by linkadge on August 2, 2004, at 8:45:34
Contrary to popular belief, very little of the cholesterol which circulates in your blood originates from diet. The range might be that 3 to 15% is of dietary origin (barring specific disease states). The rest is all synthesized by your own liver.
There are specific genes which tell the liver how much to make, how to sense what is in the blood, and so on. Dietary factors influence those regulatory parameters. Your genes determine the upper and lower bounds of blood cholesterol. Your diet determines where in those bounds the actual values will lie. Trans fats, for example, mess with the sensory part of cholesterol regulation (as far as I can tell), so your liver thinks there's less than there really is, and you pump out more. Restricting cholesterol intake is really not an effective method of regulating total cholesterol.
Cholesterol is an essential component of things like neuronal membranes, and assists neurotransmitter receptor function. It's more than just a raw material for cortisol synthesis. You need to target cortisol directly, or you'll mess up other stuff that really matters.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:372598
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20040718/msgs/373131.html