Total Cholesterol (Blood test)

Blood test for serum cholesterol

Authors
Affiliations

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.S. in Kinesiology

Doctor of Physical Therapy

B.A. in Neuroscience

U-shaped Mortality curve

The U-shaped mortality curve of total cholesterol refers to the pattern that when extremely high or extremely low, total cholesterol is directly related to increased mortality.

Extremely low cholesterol

Dr. Mason suggests that phytosterols suppress the formation of cholesterol and cause adverse health effects. Dr. Mason hypothesizes that if phytosterols have adverse health effects, then these could explain how a population with extremely low cholesterol could have increased mortality.

Extremely high cholesterol

Many will attribute increased total cholesterol and adverse health outcomes to saturated fat. Contrary to popular belief, there is no known mechanism by which saturated fat increases cholesterol. If saturated fat does not increase total serum cholesterol, then what does?

Inflammation

Inflammation can cause Hypercholesterolemia above normal physiological levels.

  • TNF-α is a direct driver of cholesterol synthesis

Citation

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