There is absolutely no way that you can turn saturated fat (or any other sort of fat) into cholesterol. But human biochemistry is so complicated and interconnected that I can not really be so bold as to make that claim. The liver is the most fantastic chemical factory in the world. It can take almost any molecule and, through a series of mind-bogglingly complicated steps, turn it into another molecule (with certain important exceptions).
So you can not say, for absolute certain, that fat does not become cholesterol, because some bits of fat probably do become incorporated into cholesterol, after the liver has mashed it about, and cleaved it, and added a few different atoms here and there. However, let me point out the following two facts, and leave you to draw your own conclusions. Fact one The fundamental building block for cholesterol is a substance called Acetyl CoA.
You need know only two things about this substance: It contains phosphorous, sulphur and nitrogen (none of which is found in fats, they are found in proteins). It has several ring structures (none of which are found in fats). Perhaps I should start a new competition. Fact two Synthesis of cholesterol is horribly complicated. Given these facts, I will reiterate the question: why would eating saturated fat have any impact on cholesterol production in the liver, or anywhere else in the body? If you can see how this happens, perhaps you could write to me and explain just exactly how it does so.
Up to now, no biochemist has managed this clever trick. I will finish this chapter by pointing out a fact that I find pertinent to the discussion. The liver is quite capable of turning one type of chemical into almost any other type of chemical. It can turn protein into sugar, sugar into fat, glycerol into glucose, etc. If you eat a great deal of carbohydrate (which is all converted into glucose), the liver will then convert excess glucose into fat. The body can only store about 2,000 calories of glucose in total, and once this limit is reached there is only thing to do with it: convert it to fat, then store it in adipose (ie. fatty) tissue.
So you can not say, for absolute certain, that fat does not become cholesterol, because some bits of fat probably do become incorporated into cholesterol, after the liver has mashed it about, and cleaved it, and added a few different atoms here and there. However, let me point out the following two facts, and leave you to draw your own conclusions. Fact one The fundamental building block for cholesterol is a substance called Acetyl CoA.
You need know only two things about this substance: It contains phosphorous, sulphur and nitrogen (none of which is found in fats, they are found in proteins). It has several ring structures (none of which are found in fats). Perhaps I should start a new competition. Fact two Synthesis of cholesterol is horribly complicated. Given these facts, I will reiterate the question: why would eating saturated fat have any impact on cholesterol production in the liver, or anywhere else in the body? If you can see how this happens, perhaps you could write to me and explain just exactly how it does so.
Up to now, no biochemist has managed this clever trick. I will finish this chapter by pointing out a fact that I find pertinent to the discussion. The liver is quite capable of turning one type of chemical into almost any other type of chemical. It can turn protein into sugar, sugar into fat, glycerol into glucose, etc. If you eat a great deal of carbohydrate (which is all converted into glucose), the liver will then convert excess glucose into fat. The body can only store about 2,000 calories of glucose in total, and once this limit is reached there is only thing to do with it: convert it to fat, then store it in adipose (ie. fatty) tissue.
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