Cholesterol is essential for cell membrane structure and is a substrate for vital hormone production.

“So it is a lipid, so it is a hydrophobic molecule that is synthesized by every cell in the human body. It is so important that without it, if you look at sort of genetic conditions that impair cholesterol synthesis, depending on their severity, they can be fatal in utero. So in other words, anything that really interferes with our ability to produce cholesterol, is a threat to us as a species. And the reason for that is cholesterol makes up the cell membrane of every cell in our body. So, you know, as you know, but maybe the listeners don't, even though a cell is a spherical thing, it has to be fluid, right? It's not just a rigid like sphere, like a, you know, a blow up ball, right? It's got to be able to kind of move in this way to mesh with other cells. It also has to accommodate having porous structures that traverse its membrane to allow ions and things like that to go across. And it's cholesterol that gives the fluidity to that membrane. It's also, as you're alluding to, the backbone of some of the most important hormones in our body. Estrogen progesterone, testosterone cortisol.”

“cholesterol is a steroid molecule and the backbone of our steroid hormones which include testosterone and many other valuable things”

“this is cholesterol this is a steroid molecule and the backbone of our steroid hormones which include testosterone and many other valuable things”

“you start with cholesterol which is the word that means this steroid backbone molecule that is the basis of our steroid hormones so testosterone estrogen progesterone pregnenolone aldosterone all of these hormones are steroid hormones and they're all based on this cholesterol backbone”

“cholesterol which is the principal molecule that is carried by these lipoproteins is something that is made by the body so every cell in the body makes cholesterol and most cells in the body make enough cholesterol to meet their own needs at the cellular level and the single and most important need of cholesterol we have is cellular membranes so cell membranes must be fluid they must be able to move they must be able to facilitate the attachment of one cell to another they must be able to hold transporters across their membranes and things like that and of course cholesterol makes up the bulk of those membranes so in addition you turn cholesterol when I say you I'm referring specifically to certain organs like the adrenal glands the ovaries the testes turn cholesterol into hormones that are either sex hormones glucocorticoids gonna deter opens these things so if for no other reason than just being able to have cells that work and have hormones cholesterol is pretty important”

“there are broadly two things that cholesterol is essential for the first is that they contribute heavily to the cell membrane of virtually every cell in the body so cells are actually kind of fluid things spherical things and what allows them to have that fluidity and what allows them to have membrane channels that allow things in and out of them is the cholesterol layer that forms the membrane and secondly cholesterol is an essential substrate for the production of some of the most important hormones in the body cortisol estrogen testosterone”

“there are broadly two things that cholesterol is essential for the first is that they contribute heavily to the cell membrane of virtually every cell in the body so cells are actually kind of fluid things spherical things and what allows them to have that fluidity and what allows them to have membrane channels that allow things in and out of them is the cholesterol layer that forms the membrane and secondly cholesterol is an essential substrate for the production of some of the most important hormones in the body cortisol estrogen testosterone”