For years, cholesterol has been portrayed as the culprit behind heart disease—a rogue element in the bloodstream, plotting to clog arteries and wreak havoc. But emerging science and a deeper understanding of the body suggest a different story.
What if cholesterol isn’t the criminal… but the construction crew?
Cholesterol is one of the most important materials your body uses for building, repairing, and protecting itself. It’s essential for forming cell membranes—like bricks and mortar for your tissues. It’s the raw material for hormones like estrogen, testosterone, cortisol (which controls inflammation and helps respond to stress), and even vitamin D. It’s also critical for brain health, memory, and mood. In fact, over 25% of the body’s cholesterol is housed in the brain, and for good reason.
Cholesterol helps create bile for digesting fats, supports fetal development, and helps form the myelin sheath—the insulating layer that protects nerves and speeds communication between the brain and body. When tissue becomes inflamed or injured, cholesterol rushes in like a first responder, offering support, structure, and materials for repair, where it’s most needed.
So why is it found in clogged arteries? Because it was called in to help. Blaming cholesterol for heart disease is like blaming firefighters for showing up at the scene of a fire.
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol—often labeled “bad”—is actually a delivery truck, carrying fat-soluble vitamins and healing agents to the places in your body that need them most. High-density lipoprotein (HDL) collects the leftovers and recycles them. Both are essential parts of your body’s internal transport and repair system.
This is why simply forcing cholesterol levels lower with medication may not always be the best first step. While cholesterol-lowering drugs like statins can reduce the numbers on a lab test, they don’t ask, or address, the most important question: Why is cholesterol elevated in the first place?
That’s where we come in. We take the time to explore what might be triggering your body’s natural repair mechanisms. Is there chronic inflammation? Stress? Nutritional deficiencies? Liver congestion? Damaging toxins? Hormonal imbalances? Damaged tissue? Rather than silencing the warning signal, we focus on what’s causing the body to signal in the first place.
Cholesterol doesn’t show up randomly—it shows up for a reason. It’s a helper, not a hazard. The real solution may not lie in chasing numbers, but in uncovering what your body is working so hard to fix.
It’s time we stop blaming the builder—and start understanding what needs to be rebuilt and then helping fix it.
Want to hear more from Dr. Carling? Check out our podcast. Search for VitalHealth4You on your favorite podcast listening app or go to vitalhealthcda.com/podcasts/
©2025 Holly A. Carling, O.M.D., L.Ac., Ph.D.
