So that's , that's what aids in our digestion , which is another thing I should have mentioned earlier . In addition to using cholesterol for cell membranes and hormones , we wouldn't be able to digest our food without cholesterol because it's what makes up the bile salts . So our own cholesterol is basically recirculated in a pool throughout our body .
So in other words , anything that really interferes with our ability to produce cholesterol will uh is a threat to us as a species . And the reason for that is cholesterol makes up the cell membrane of every cell in our body . So , you know , as you know , but maybe the listeners don't , even though a cell is a spherical thing , it has to be fluid , right ?
So , you know , I don't want to make sure people understand . So , so cholesterol is a , is a really complicated molecule . So it's a ringed molecule .
So , saturated fat of course , is a fatty acid just so people understand totally different molecule from cholesterol . Cholesterol is very complicated ring structure , multiple rings stuck together . S fa saturated fat is just a long chain fatty acid that is fully saturated , meaning it has no double bonds and it can exist in isolation .
It also has to accommodate having porous structures that traverse its membrane to allow ions and things like that to go across . And it's cholesterol that gives the fluidity to that membrane . It's also as you're alluding to the backbone of some of the most important hormones in our body , estrogen , progesterone testosterone , cortisol .
