CHOLESTEROL

WHAT IS CHOLESTEROL?

Read below how to lower cholesterol with Olive Leaf Extract

Cholesterol is a fat-like substance found in all cells of the body. It helps create cell membranes, produce hormones and vitamin D. The liver produces about 80% of cholesterol present in the body and rest comes from dietary sources including meat, poultry, fish and dairy products. 

Cholesterol is very important for the normal body functioning, healthy levels of cholesterol helps your body perform properly, however uncontrolled high cholesterol can result in serious health problems including coronary heart disease which occur when plaques build up in the arterial walls. These plaques eventually block blood flow and can trigger a heart attack or stroke. There are sevaral ways to lower cholesterol naturally. Find out more on this page.

HDL or LDL?

Cholesterol comes from food and from the liver, it is carried by some proteins, called "lipoproteins" where it needs to go. There are two kinds of lipoproteins:

- Low density lipoproteins (LDL) which are also known as “bad cholesterol”, they are responsible for building up pla

ques in arteries and make strokes more likely. The LDL level can be reduced by eating low fat foods, avoiding sugars or doing physical exercise.

- High density lipoproteins (HDL) are known as “good cholesterol” because they remove the harmful bad cholesterol from where it doesn't belong. This cholesterol behaves like a friendly scavenger which cruises the bloodstream.

CHOLESTEROL LEVELS:

High cholesterol is a condition in which you have too much cholesterol in the blood, this condition has usually no symptoms. Health care providers recommend getting your cholesterol level checked every six months. A cholesterol level above 200 is considered borderline high, and above 240 requires treatment.

There are several ways to decrease cholesterol levels, when medical treatment is not required, preventive measures include a healthy weight, low-fat diet and physical exercise.

According to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, olive leaf extract may help reduce high cholesterol levels. The cholesterol-lowering effects of olive leaf extracts come from oleuropein, a bitter substance in the leaf.

OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT AND CHOLESTEROL

Polyphenol compounds found in olive leaves help to prevent the formation of arterial plaques and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in two ways. First, they reduce the production of “adhesion molecules” which cause white blood cells and platelets to stick to arterial walls, cause of plaque formation.

In a second way, they reduce platelet aggregation (clumping), which in conclusion, reduces the risk of stroke or heart attack.

Moreover it has been shown that olive leaf extract has anti-inflammatory effects, it helps prevent the oxidation of LDL-which triggers inflammation of arteries.