Lets take a minute to look at common blood tests, what they tell us and how to respond if key metrics are out of bounds.
Most people are familiar with Total cholesterol and LDL ie bad cholesterol. A surprise to many in our 50+ demographic though is that both metrics are actually rather poor predictors of cardiovascular disease and overall mortality and thus are less of a focus these days.
So what are the best bio-markers, the ones that are highly predictive of heart attack, strokes or overall mortality?
Better bio-markers
HDL - shows how you are managing blood sugar via diet and levels of exercise - it correlate well to heart disease as well as many other risks. You want yours above 30, preferably in the 40-50 range.
Triglycerides - target is under 100. Again, an indicator of how your body is managing dietary carbohydrates amongst other things.
Triglyceride to HDL ratio - this one is the holly Grail. Ratios of less than 2 ; 1 are good.
Other important metrics…
Fasting blood glucose and insulin - these two point out a danger, 40% of Americans are pre-diabetic and the number is rising fast. Add your hemoglobin a1c scores for an accurate picture of your blood sugar picture.
sd LDL - small dense LDL particles matter much more than total LDL, sdLDL are damaging particles that lead to arterial plaque and are driven by a combination of high triglycerides and blood sugar.
Clotting Factors - Fibrinogen is one that when high can lead to excess clot formation causing heart attacks and strokes, especially in combination with smoking.
CAC - this a heart scan looks for CAC coronary artery calcium which is another heart disease warning sign. Get a clean zero score and you are good for 10 years, get a bad score and you have work to do.
All these bio-markers are highly predictive per the data, and if out of bounds strong indicators you need to take corrective action with lifestyle changes being top priority vs just popping pills, all of which come with bad interactions and side effects.
Which brings us to stains, a class of drugs effective at lowering LDL and a huge profit center for Big Pharma. But the data is piling up that they offer patients very limited / almost non-exsistent benefits helping just 1% of patients vs a placebo. Yes they lower LDL and total cholesterol but again, those markers do not show strong correlation with heart disease, heart attack, stroke etc. Statins also fail to reduce all cause mortality, the true measure of effectiveness. Statins do lower inflammation a bit which is of benefit but like most drugs they come with a long list of side effects which increase with dosage and time on the drugs.
Common side effects - muscle pain and weakness, joint pain, cognitive impairment, erectile dysfunction, possible cancer risks and perhaps worst of all - statins double your risk for T2 diabetes. Meanwhile Lifestyle interventions like dietary changes and exercise offer much greater benefits plus all the “side effects” are quite positive.
The bottom line - good health rarely comes in pill form and important health decisions ultimately rest with you. There are many good books on this topic of statins and heart health, many good studies and papers as well as many TedTalk lectures and expert interviews on YouTube - an easy way to get a decent overview while eating breakfast or relaxing on the couch in the evening.
Many videos to choose from but Dr David Diamond is a great start. He is a PHD scientist, very bright, well read and refreshingly… has nothing to sell. No books, no website, no pharmaceutical sponsors. He dose research, interviews, speaks at medical conferences etc. You can take a listen and make your own judgment on the data he presents - personally, I think you’ll be impressed.
https://youtu.be/dOzgrhG0xKI?si=oMWE3GwjpOQtrtjY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaEmiUfL7ts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj7ldyKQnRA
For a more in depth on blood test, optimal ranges, what to do to correct each - ring me up and we can work together to improve all your bio-markers, and we’ll do it all without drugs ;-)