Here's what I didn't know — and what almost nobody talks about:
Your body has a built-in cholesterol removal system called reverse cholesterol transport.
It depends on a network of lymphatic vessels to carry old cholesterol OUT of your arterial walls and deliver it to your liver, where it gets converted to bile and flushed from your body.
When those vessels work properly, your body clears cholesterol, plaque doesn't build, and your numbers stay in range.
But here's what the research showed me: After 40, those lymphatic vessels get congested.
The vessel walls weaken. Fibrin deposits form. The rhythmic pumping that moves lymph through your system slows down.
Once drainage fails, everything backs up.
Cholesterol accumulates in arterial walls. Oxidizes. Triggers inflammation. Plaque begins to form.
And your LDL keeps climbing no matter what you do — because you're adding supplements on top of a clogged system.