Cholesterol. The Good Guy?

Cholesterol has gotten a bad rap. The fact is your body needs it.  Here are a few of the many important roles cholesterol plays in your body:

• It is a component of cell membranes and a starting material for synthesizing other steroids.
• Many of your hormones and vitamin D are made from cholesterol.
• Cholesterol transports fat-soluble vitamins throughout the body, and is used to manufacture bile.
• Half of the myelin sheath, which insulates the nerves of the body, is composed of cholesterol.

Demonizing something that has so many varied roles in the body is misdirected. It would be better from the standpoint of harmony and balance in the body to minimize the amount of fried and fatty foods, dairy and carbohydrates in your diet, and support the metabolism of fats and cholesterol.

Increase your fruits and veggies, since they provide you with vitamins and minerals, many of which act as co-factors for metabolic processes such as the metabolism of fats and cholesterol.

Here are a few of the nutrients that are beneficial for supporting cholesterol metabolism in the body.

• CHOLINE is important to the metabolism and transport of fats and cholesterol.
• LECITHIN is unique in that it bonds to fats in the bloodstream and can help pull them out because it is water dispersible.
• INOSITOL is used in the metabolism of fats and cholesterol and in the formation of lecithin.
• VITAMIN B-6 is necessary for the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
• NIACIN is another nutrient necessary for the metabolism of fats, carbohydrates and proteins.
• CHROMIUM is essential for the utilization of insulin, one of the controllers of cholesterol production in the body.

Let’s stop making cholesterol the bad guy. Instead, let's support healthy cholesterol metabolism in your body with the foods, vitamins and minerals it loves.