3 WAYS TO ASSESS CARDIAC RISK
That HAS Little to do With Total Cholesterol
I'm still amazed that doctors are still pushing people to lower their cholesterol. There has been no correlation between lower cholesterol levels and better cardiac outcomes. In fact, the sweet spot for cholesterol levels is between 219-249.
What about LDL? That should be lower too, right? It's debatable. UCLA did a study of 541 hospitals, where 136,905 patients entered the hospital for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) that had documented lipid levels. Basically, they were having a heart attack and they showed that 1/2 of those entering a heart attack had LDL levels below 100 (the recommended level).
With that said, I like to "BE the research," for your benefit and hopefully ease fears around cholesterol and about cardiac scare care tactics. Why do this? Because since August 2018, I've been eating a meat-based diet. 85%-ish of my daily calories come from animal products (meat, eggs, dairy...with much of it being red meat). "THEY" tell us that eating meat and fat will clog our arteries and drastically increase our heart attack risks.
Here are 3 ways I assess cardiac risk for my personal health that may help you draw your own conclusions.
FYI: Recent bloodwork results.
Total Cholesterol: 208 (Considered high)
LDL: 142 (DANGER)
HDL: 52
Triglycerides: 50
CORONARY ARTERY CALCIUM SCORE
If my elevated cholesterol and LDL levels weren't enough of a concern for a cardiologist, my massive intake of red meat and fat might cause him to have his own heart attack. With that in mind, I had a CT scan done of my heart to see if there was any damage. Kind of the ultimate reveal.
Here are my results. ZERO. There's no better score.
BODY FAT PERCENTAGE
Another talking point from the media, documentaries, and your pharma-sponsored doctor that often gets spouted is that obesity is a major contributor to heart disease. I agree with that statement. What they usually follow up with as for recommendations is that "when you eat lots of red meat, you get fat."
Again, in the spirit of N=1 experimentation (N is the sample size in a study), I had some body fat analysis done. "Survey says?" 10%. Obesity is considered 25%. Apparently, all this red meat is killing me.
LOOK AT THE RATIOS
If you don't want to go through the scanning and imaging, looking at your blood work in the lens of ratios can be a great way to assess risk. Gone are the days of looking at an isolated value and assessing a risk factor.
One ratio is the ratio between the level of HDL and total cholesterol that we need to be concerned about.
In adults, the HDL/total cholesterol ratio should be higher than 0.24 (just divide your HDL level by your cholesterol).
Or more precisely, the HDL/total cholesterol ratio:
0.24 or higher is considered ideal
under 0.24 - low
less than 0.10 - very dangerous.
Generally speaking, the higher the ratio, the better (the lower your risk of a heart attack).
However, HDL is closely related to triglycerides.
It appears common for people with high triglycerides to have low HDL's, and these same people also tend to have high levels of clotting factors in their blood stream, which is unhealthy in protecting against heart disease.
Therefore, in adults, the triglyceride/HDL ratio should be below 2 (just divide your triglycerides by your HDL).
Or more precisely, the triglyceride/HDL ratio:
2 or less is considered ideal
4 - high
6 - much too high
People with the highest ratio of triglycerides to HDL had 16 times the risk of heart attack as those with the lowest ratio of triglycerides to HDL in the study of 340 heart attack patients and 340 of their healthy, same age counterparts.
The ratio of triglycerides to HDL was the strongest predictor of a heart attack, even more accurate than the LDL/HDL ratio (Circulation 1997;96:2520-2525)."
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4239 N. Nevada Ave. Suite 104
Colorado Springs, CO 80907
719-602-4545
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