The fatty alcohol called cholesterol is found in the cells of the body as well as in the blood stream; it is also present in bile salts and is one of the chief constituents of gallstones. In the blood stream. it protects the red blood cells from bacterial poisons, bile salts and other agents. If, however, it is present in excessive amounts, it can have certain undesirable effects. It may be deposited on the blood vessels and may lead to the serious condition called atherosclerosis, in which waxy cholesterol deposits are built up on the arterial linings. Gradually, they come to protrude into the lumen, or passageway, of arteries and thus reduce the supply of blood to a given organ.
One method of dealing with this con¬dition has been to reduce the intake of foods rich in cholesterol, such as animal fats and egg yolk, and to substitute foods such as corn oil and cottonseed oil. It is by no means certain that such a diet will bring about a decrease in the amount of cholesterol in the body, since this substance is built up in the tissues (particularly in the liver) from various types of foods — carbohydrates, fats and proteins.
There is some evidence that tension and stress may lead to a rise (at least a temporary rise) in the quantity of cholesterol in the blood. Tension causes the release of the hormone adrenaline; this hormone in turn, triggers the release of fatty materials from storage depots in the body, so that they may be available for conversion into energy. It would seem advisable therefore, for sufferers from atherosclerosis to avoid excitement as much as possible.
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