Dr. Tabatha Barber explains two types of LDL cholesterol: big fluffy particles that roll harmlessly along artery walls like cotton balls, and small dense particles that scrape and irritate them like BBs. Large particles can compress into small dense ones over time, shifting from protective to harmful.
I wanna just highlight this, go back to inflammation. What's clear in the literature is LDL cholesterol that your body makes, your liver makes it, other cells make it, your brain needs it, your hormones need it, you need cholesterol. This LDL cholesterol, it's large buoyant, I call it big fluffy, the actual size of it, it's large, but it can transform over time and be compressed to small dense LDL. So large buoyant LDL, small dense LDL. Big fluffy like a cotton ball rolling down your artery wall, keeping it clean, versus a small dense like a BB scraping a little inflammatory spot on the inside of your artery wall. That's the difference.
