[ibepappaya]

I know they're both lipids. I have feeling that since a sterol is just 4 fused carbon rings with a hydrocarbon tail, and a steroid looks like that all steroids are sterols but not all sterols are steroids. Is this right? Am I messing this up?

[Peter S]

Sterols are steroid alcohols and are a subgroup of steroids with a hydroxyl group in the 3-position of the A-ring. Sterols form part of the cellular membrane where they influence their fluidity and function and participate as secondary messengers in developmental signaling.. The most important sterols are cholesterol.