HEALTHY DIETS AND SCIENCE: Cholesterol is essential for the hormones

The raison d'etre of this website is to provide you with hard scientific information which may help you make informed decisions in your quest for health (so far I have blogged concise summaries of over 1,500 scientific studies and have had three books published).

My research is mainly focused on the effects of cholesterol, saturated fat and statin drugs on health. If you know anyone who is worried about their cholesterol levels and heart disease, or has been told to take statin drugs you could send them a link to this website, and to my statin or cholesterol or heart disease books.

David Evans

Independent Health Researcher

Friday, 11 March 2011

Cholesterol is essential for the hormones

Published in Endocr Rev, Vol. 3 (3): 299-329

The Role of Lipoproteins in Steroidogenesis and Cholesterol Metabolism in Steroidogenic Glands
JOHN T. GWYNNE and JEROME F. STRAUSS, III
Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

This paper can be accessed at: http://edrv.endojournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/3/3/299

Gwynne comments that cholesterol is essential for the production of hormones such as:
androgens
testosterone
estrogens
progesterone
corticoids
cortisol
aldosterone

He notes that in the glands of adrenal, ovary, placenta, and possibly the testes of man, lipoprotein cholesterol (cholesterol circulating in the blood) is the major source of cholesterol used in the manufacture of hormones.

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