Can cholesterol and oxidized LDL affect your joint cartilage?

Oxidized LDL (low density lipoprotein) is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

How can a cardiovascular risk factor affect joint cartilage? The following study included 203 patients and 194 controls (Erturk C, et al., 21017). Plasma concentrations of oxidized LDL and oxidative stress markers were measured.

The researchers found a significant association between the levels of various serum markers of oxidative injury, especially oxidized LDL, and increasing severity of knee osteoarthritis.

The researchers stated that oxidized LDL seems to play a critical role in osteoarthritis, both in the beginning, and during progression of the disease.

Another study documented that oxidized LDL facilitated TNF-alpha, an inflammatory marker, which contributed to chondrocyte death (Shen P, et al., 2017). Chondrocytes are cartilage cells.

When you reduce your cardiovascular risk, you will also reduce your risk for osteoarthritis.

A high nutrient, low glycemic index plant-based diet will reduce oxidized LDL and cardiovascular risk.

The plant extract berberine will also reduce LDL (Zhang Y, et al., 2008).

References:

Ertürk C, Altay MA, Bilge A, Çelik H. Is there a relationship between serum ox-LDL, oxidative stress, and PON1 in knee osteoarthritis? Clin Rheumatol. 2017 Dec;36(12):2775-2780.

Shen P, Zhu Y, Zhu L, Weng F, Li X, Xu Y. Oxidized low density lipoprotein facilitates tumor necrosis factor-α mediated chondrocyte death via autophagy pathway. Mol Med Rep. 2017 Dec;16(6):9449-9456.

Zhang Y, Li X, Zou D, Liu W, Yang J, Zhu N, Huo L, Wang M, Hong J, Wu P, Ren G, Ning G.Treatment of type 2 diabetes and dyslipidemia with the natural plant alkaloid berberine.