Testing for Heart Disease
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When trying to determine heart health, people often look at the results of cholesterol blood tests. Unfortunately, what most people fail to understand is that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, but rather a possible symptom. It’s a fact that half of all heart attack patients have perfectly healthy levels of cholesterol.
So what is the cause of heart disease? Primarily, it’s arterial inflammation. Cholesterol is merely the substance used by our bodies to alleviate the inflammation. The result of doing so, however, over time results in the buildup of plaque within the walls of arteries. Too much plaque, and the arteries become blocked. Cholesterol also has many other uses in the body, so it’s not the villain it’s made out to be. In fact, we would die without it!
Without getting too technical, let’s jump right in and look at a cholesterol blood test reading (known as a lipid panel) and how to interpret the findings…
Lipid panels will consist of readings for Total Cholesterol, HDL, LDL and Triglycerides (among others).
Total cholesterol should ideally be below 200 mg/dL (though other doctors suggest a range of 180-240 mg/dL and never any lower than 150 as the risk for stroke increases dramatically at this low level).
HDL (“good cholesterol”) should be above 38 mg/dL, but also 25% or more of your total cholesterol.
LDL (“bad cholesterol”) should be below 130 mg/dL.
Triglycerides should be below 150 mg/dL, but also no more than double your HDL.
CALCULATIONS
- Your ideal HDL to total cholesterol ratio should be 25% (or higher). To find your ideal HDL, simply divide your total cholesterol number by 4.
- To find your actual HDL percentage of your total cholesterol, divide your HDL by your total cholesterol and then multiply that number by 100.
- Your triglyceride to HDL ratio should be below 2.0. Said another way, your tryglycerides should be no more than double your HDL. To measure, divide your triglycerides by your HDL.
While cholesterol is hardly an indication of heart health, if your cholesterol is very high you can easily lower it. Simply reducing trans fat, saturated fat, sweets, and junk food, and getting some exercise will lower your cholesterol, LDL and triglycerides while raising your HDL. You can also supplement with certain natural dietary supplements such as policosanol, niacin, red wine extract, omega-3 essential fatty acids, and fiber.
Other, more advanced tests you can have done to test more specifically for heart disease include the following:
- C-Reactive Protein (CRP) – elevated levels indicate arterial inflammation (the real cause of heart disease).
- White Blood Cell (WBC) Count – levels above 8.5 are a risk factor.
- Albumin Levels – decreased levels indicate protein deficiency and excess carbohydrates (which can cause arterial inflammation).
- Serum Ferritin – elevated levels can indicate an inflammatory disorder.
- Homocysteine – elevated levels often result from an overly high protein diet (elevated levels are also a heart disease risk factor, which can be lowered by B vitamins and folic acid).
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Great article. I am so very glad to see someone else debunking the dangeorus mythology that cholesterol is the cause of heart disease. I still can hardly believe that most cardiologists in this country do not understand this.
It is like a fireman coming to a fire, seeing a bunch of smoke, and saying, “the smoke is the problem. I’ll just turn on this big fan, blow the smoke away and everything will be hunky dory.”
One thing I would like to add: Besides making sure that the usual causes of arterial inflammation are addressed, (too much sugar, too many carbs, subtle food allergies, not enough vitamin C – we are one of the few animals on earth that cannot make our own vitamin C), I would suggest that anyone with high cholesterol or high triglycerides, or both, get their liver methylation funciutons checked out. If the liver methylation if working correctly than many of the toxins and irritants that would lead to aretial inflammation would get processed out of the body by the liver. BTW, Organic MSM, (as long as it is truly pure and does NOT have any additives, such as agents to make it easier to dissolve, anti-cakikng agents, etc.) can go a long way towards restoring liver methylation function.
Jeff — once again, good points all around. I should also add vitamin D to your list as this is being shown more and more to be integral to a healthy body and immune system. While the FDA recommends just 400IU per day (and the Canadian equivalent recommends 1000IU per day), the true efficacious dosage is more like 4000-6000IU per day (and make sure to take vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) as vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) is synthetic garbage and can be toxic at higher dosages). See my article on vitamin D HERE.
Do you think a lack of sunshine could cause HBP? People who work nights and very rarely are out in sunshine….could there be a connection? Just wondering.
It’s interesting that you should ask – there has been some research related to vitamin D and lowering blood pressure. See the articles here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/04/05/175258469/study-hints-vitamin-d-might-help-curb-high-blood-pressure and here: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/vitamin-d-deficiency/AN01925
That said, high blood pressure is not a disease for which we need a cure or a drug; it’s related to poor diet and a lack of exercise. The first line of defense for high blood pressure should be the elimination of processed foods and sugar- & starch-laden foods. Add to that a regimen of regular cardiovascular exercise and proper supplementation, and you’ll be on the road to recovery in no time!