Cholesterol

Cholesterol is a fat (lipid) which is produced by the liver and is crucial for normal body functioning. It exists in the outer layer of every cell in the body and has many functions. It is a waxy steroid and is transported in the blood plasma of all animals. Cholesterol is carried in the blood by molecules called lipoproteins. A lipoprotein is any complex or compound containing both lipid (fat) and protein. Its three main types are:

• Low density lipoprotein (LDL)
• High density lipoprotein (HDL)
• Triglycerides

Researchers report that changes in cholesterol may speed up heart disease in children affected by the premature aging disease called progeria. It is a fatal genetic condition in which children show signs of accelerated aging such as aged-looking skin, loss of hair and body fat, joint stiffness, hip dislocation, atherosclerosis and growth failure. All children with progeria die between the ages of 6 and 20 years from heart failure or stroke, according to a study led by Dr. Leslie Gordon, medical director of the Progeria Research Foundation and assistant professor at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Recent research strongly suggests that cholesterol does in fact cause internal inflammation, which you should know of if you care about looking old before your time. When inflammation is occurring inside our bodies, it produces damage at the cellular level. The outer layer of billions of cells in our body starts to harden prematurely as the amount of inflammation increases. Simply put, it destroys our bodies from the inside out, greatly increasing our chances of premature aging, cardiovascular disease, and immune deficiency disease, among others.