What form is Cholesterol carried in the Blood

            Cholesterol is a waxy-fatty substance. If you were to hold it in your hand, you would see a substance that resembles the very fine scrapings of a whitish-yellow candle. Cholesterol is important to our bodies. For example, among other things, cholesterol is used in the making of the sex hormones: estrogen and progesterone in women and testosterone in men. It is used in the manufacture of vitamin D from sunlight touching our skins. It is part of all cell membranes. It can be said that without cholesterol we would not be here.

            Cholesterol is packaged in the liver for transport to the cells that need it. Since cholesterol is a waxy-fatty substance it is not water soluble. Blood is water based. If the liver were to dump cholesterol directly into the bloodstream it would congeal into unusable globs. Therefore, the liver wraps the cholesterol into water-soluble, protein sheaths. Each one of these particles is called a ‘Low-Density Lipo(fat) Protein’ or an LDL particle. Now when the liver deposits the LDLs in the bloodstream they quickly mix in and are whisked away to the cells that need cholesterol.