Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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I am sitting here studying for this nutrition class im taking (I know I know I was just curious about what the other side based their arguments on so I signed up)

We are reading about how we make vit d from cholesterol and sun. So us paleo folks do not fear cholesterol and eat it with abandon and then our levels go up (tons of posts on here freaking out about it). But we do NOT get enough sunlight.. so then we supplement with vit d.. we are stuck with all this cholesterol that we aren't using? Our ancestors probably needed all that extra cholesterol to make use of the days outside..

Could that be the cause of high numbers?

I know it must be way more complicated than that and there are many other factors. But what do you think?

flag	asked Apr 19 2012 at 9:57 ancestral_stars 2,830●8●22

Matt · Answer 1 · 2012-04-19 10:35:50Z UTC

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Not likely. Most folks consuming many 100s of milligrams of cholesterol daily, but vitamin D supplementation is some 1000 times lower than that in terms of mass - 10000 IU = 250 micrograms. Cholesterol is used much more in cell structures and things like bile acids than the minute amount that goes towards vitamin D biosynthesis.

answered Apr 19 2012 at 10:35

Matt
36.1k●2●10●69

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Darn.. taking the wind out of my sails with logic and stuff – ancestral_stars Apr 19 2012 at 10:49

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ps I have the biggest cyber crush on you Matt!! – ancestral_stars Apr 19 2012 at 10:50

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Now I would wonder if the abundance of short-chain fatty acids that require less bile salts for digestion might cause a down-regulation of bile salt synthesis, causing a greater buildup of cholesterol in the body. Now you've got me interested in the fate of cholesterol in the body! As it always seems to lead back to... bacteria convert cholesterol into coprostanol, unabsorbable by the body (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coprostanol). Possible that inadequate or inappropriate microbial growth could cause diminished cholesterol degradation/excretion? Maybe? – Matt Apr 19 2012 at 11:28

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Now we're equating cholesterol directly with serum lipids, I don't know if that's necessarily a good correlation or not. – Matt Apr 19 2012 at 11:29

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Don't know what to say about a cybercrush. :P – Matt Apr 19 2012 at 11:29

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Jan Petersen · Answer 2 · 2012-04-19 12:41:49Z UTC

It's not entirely impossible that it plays a part, but cholesterol levels doesn't really matter. Total cholesterol says very little and most ratios are the result of calculations and doesn't measure different apo's! Stephanie Seneff has written quite a bit on sunshine and cholesterol http://people.csail.mit.edu/seneff/ and this one suggests something similar! http://www.amazon.com/Vitamin-Cholesterol-The-Importance-Sun/dp/0956213200

Jack Kronk · Answer 3 · 2012-04-19 14:28:22Z UTC

This is a nice idea, but I say no because of my personal experience. Last summer, I got more sun regularly than any time in my life. My VitD was 58.8 and my cholesterol (Trigs, VLDL, sdLDL) was going up up up and HDL going down. 4-5 times per week of full exposure to San Diego sun did not help my cholesterol. I actually attribute most of the problem to too much dairy fat (butter, ghee, cream), which I have since sharply reduced.

Could our cholesterol be high because we dont get enough sun and suppliment vit d instead of making it??

3 Answers