Cholesterol is the most abundant sterol compound in the body. It is not only a component of cell biofilm but also a precursor of steroid hormones, bile acids and vitamin D. Therefore, for most tissues, it is essential to ensure the supply of it and maintain its metabolic balance.
It widely exists in all tissues of the body, about 1 / 4 of which is distributed in brain and nerve tissue, accounting for about 2% of the total weight of brain tissue. The liver, kidney, intestines, other internal organs, and skin and fatty tissue contain more. Every 100g of tissue contains about 200 to 500mg, with the liver as the most and less muscle. The content of the adrenal gland, ovary and other tissues can be as high as 1% - 5%, but the total amount is minimal.
The source of human sterols depends on the synthesis in the body and food intake. The daily diet of ordinary people contains about 300-500mg, mainly from animal viscera, egg yolk, cream and meat. Vegetable foods do not have, but plant sterols, such as β Glutasterol, ergosterol, etc., are not easily absorbed by the human body. Excessive intake can also inhibit its absorption of it.
The suggestions put forward by experts on diet therapy to reduce it include:
⒈ eat less or no foods with high content, such as animal viscera and egg yolk, and control the intake in the diet (less than 300 mg per day). The blood is mainly synthesized by the liver (70%), and only a small part (30%) comes from food. Therefore, only reducing intake can not fundamentally treat high, but controlling intake in food is still helpful in reducing. According to the standard recommended by the American Heart Association, the daily information should be less than 300 mg or less, while the in an egg yolk is 250 ~ 290 mg; The content of 100 grams of stewed pig liver is as high as 469 mg.
2. Eat less fat meat and meat oil and reduce saturated fat intake. Saturated fat widely exists in meat, eggs and dairy foods, especially in fat heart, meat oil and viscera. Saturated fat can promote the growth of blood low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), and its effect is even more effective than itself.
3. Eat more vegetables, fruits, fungi and algae, such as konjac, agaric, kelp, Undaria pinnatifida, onion, pumpkin and sweet potato. These foods are rich in dietary fibre and contribute to their excretion—the primary way for the human body to excrete it through bile. The liver uses it to synthesize cholic acid. Cholic acid is discharged into the gastrointestinal tract with bile to participate in fat digestion. After that, some cholic acid metabolites are reabsorbed back into the blood for "waste utilization", and the other part of cholic acid metabolites are discharged from the body with faeces. The function of dietary fibre is to absorb more bile acid metabolites and release them instead of recycling them. In this way, the liver "has to" use more to synthesize cholic acid to supplement the loss of cholic acid. Many studies have confirmed that increasing the intake of dietary fibre has an apparent effect on reducing it.
4. Monounsaturated fatty acids in olive oil, tea oil, corn oil and rapeseed oil can reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C). It can be eaten with soybean oil, peanut oil and other vegetable oil daily.
5. Fish oil and lecithin reduce blood lipid, but their product is mainly aimed at increasing triglyceride and the impact of lowering, which is small (of course, it is still functional).
⒍ vitamin C, vitamin E, and other antioxidant components can not directly reduce it in the blood, but help reduce its harm to blood vessels.
In addition to the above methods, we can also treat cholesterol with drugs. Astaxanthin, lutein, B-carotene, CoQ10, anthocyanin, Ganoderma lucidum spores, tea polyphenols, etc., astaxanthin is the strongest. Clinical studies also confirmed that when volunteers took 1.8, 3.6, 14.4 and 21.6mg of astaxanthin every day for 2 weeks, the oxidation time of LDL was prolonged by 5.0%, 26.2%, 42.3%, 30.7%, respectively; To prevent the occurrence of atherosclerosis.