by Paola Toia
CHOLESTEROL: WHAT IS IT?
Il cholesterol it is a very important fatty substance for our body, as long as its concentrations do not become high in the blood.
After it is eaten, the grasso present in food is absorbed byintestine thanks to the presence of bile salts, to then pass into the liver, where it is converted to two types of lipidsI triglycerides (specifically they are neutral esters of glycerol) and the cholesterol (molecule of the sterol class).
Cholesterol is present in all tissues and in greater quantities in the brain, bile and blood; has hydrophobic characteristics and is therefore scarcely water-soluble.
It is found both in free form (35-40% of the total) both esterified with long-chain fatty acids. How is it eliminated from the body? It is excreted through the bile, turned into bile acids and then in bile salts (from gallstones cholesterol can be obtained in a pure crystalline state).
