Many television commercials and medical studies have argued that cholesterol is extremely harmful when present in large quantities and may lead to high blood pressure or clotting within the blood vessels; however, recent discoveries have been made demonstrating the positive effects of the substances on the body. The Swedish medical university, Karolinska Institutet, has made findings regarding the effect of cholesterol in brain development. A derivative of the substance must be present for brain cells to form.
Dopamine is known to cause happiness and pleasure in human beings; oxysterol is the oxidized form of cholesterol that is necessary for dopamine-producing nerve cells to exist. These nerve cells are the type that die as a result of Parkinson's disease, indicating that cholesterol may actually contribute to the prevention of the degenerating condition. It is hoped that future technology will allow doctors and scientists to replace the dead dopamine nerve cells in Parkinson's disease patients with transplanted dopamine-producing cells. Another indirect advantage to this discovery is the ability to test new drugs that claim to alleviate or prevent the condition from occurring.
Source: Karolinska Institutet
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