Chris Masterjohn

Yeah, the upper left-hand corner is the new one.

And the one on the right is the 1984 one.

Yeah.

Well, I do think that you don't want to see your blood cholesterol going crazy high because that can be a sign that you're not using it well, right?

Like if your cholesterol is turning over and it's being used to make bile acids to support your digestion, it's being used to make

adrenal hormones and sex hormones.

It's being used to make testosterone.

It's being used to make brain synapses to support your memory.

Like all those things that cholesterol does are incredibly important.

But I think a lot of people, their cholesterol going up can be a sign that they're not using it properly.

And so I think that's why you do see – it is true that if you take people at a certain age, you can see inverse correlations between cholesterol levels and mortality.

But if you take people who are younger and you look at who's going to get heart attacks later, you do see that higher cholesterol when you're younger prospectively predicts

a higher risk of heart disease later.

And I don't think that's because cholesterol causes heart disease, but I think it's because it's a reflection of your overall metabolism being more slow in terms of actually using up the cholesterol.

Makes sense.

But it's interesting, though, that if you look at the mechanisms of how does cholesterol

How does cholesterol cause atherosclerosis?

The cholesterol is inside a lipoprotein, which is like a spherical container for the cholesterol.

It's got a bunch of fat-soluble vitamins and other things in it.

But the outside is fatty acids, specifically in the form called phospholipids.