lipid.site

Where lipids travel in your body

Fat and cholesterol come from food and from your own liver, ride through your blood in tiny particles, and end up in muscles, fat tissue, the liver, and sometimes artery walls.

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Stop 1 of 5

Small intestine

Fat and cholesterol are absorbed here. Most of the cholesterol in your gut actually comes from bile your liver makes; food adds the rest. The gut packs it into big particles called chylomicrons and sends them into the lymph, then the blood.

Ezetimibe works here, blocking the cholesterol door.

Fat from food Made by the liver (VLDL, LDL)
Where medicines work:

Zoom in: how the particles change

musclefat tissueliverChylomicronLeftover

Chylomicrons drop off their fat

After a meal, fat and cholesterol are packed into big particles called chylomicrons and sent into the lymph, then the blood. As they travel, they drop off their fat (triglycerides) for muscles to burn or fat tissue to store. The shrunken leftovers go to the liver.

Pale particles carry fat from food; gold ones are made by the liver. Tap a numbered stop or a medicine, or let it play. Below the map, zoom in on how each particle changes.

Key takeaways

  1. 1

    Fat and cholesterol are absorbed in the small intestine. Most of the cholesterol in your gut actually comes from bile your liver makes; food adds the rest.

  2. 2

    Your liver is the control center. It makes most of your body's cholesterol, sends it out in VLDL particles, and pulls LDL back in with its receptors.

  3. 3

    When too many LDL particles circulate, some get stuck in artery walls. Plaque starts there, including in the arteries that feed your heart.

Go deeper

▸From food to muscle

After a meal, fat and cholesterol are packed into big particles called chylomicrons and sent into the lymph, then the blood. As they travel, they drop off their fat (triglycerides) for muscles to burn or fat tissue to store. The shrunken leftovers go to the liver.

▸From the liver to LDL

The liver packs fat and cholesterol into VLDL particles. As VLDL gives away its fat, it shrinks into LDL, which is mostly cholesterol. LDL circulates for days, delivering cholesterol to cells, until the liver takes it back.

How many LDL receptors your liver has largely sets your LDL level. HDL helps carry extra cholesterol back to the liver.

▸Why this map matters for treatment

Medicines act at different stops. Ezetimibe works in the gut, blocking NPC1L1, the protein cholesterol uses to get in. Statins, bempedoic acid, PCSK9 medicines and inclisiran all work in the liver. Exhibit 6 shows each one.

What people experienced

One person's experience isn't a prediction of yours.

Sources

Not medical advice. This exhibit is general education to help you understand your condition and talk with your clinician. It doesn't tell you what to take or change. If you have chest pain or other signs of a heart attack or stroke, call 911.

Next: 3. How plaque forms →

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