Did you know, 75% of patients hospitalized for a heart attack have normal cholesterol levels” (American Heart Journal, January 2009).

If cholesterol tests are not accurately predicting my risk of a heart attack then what tests should I consider?

Coronary Calcium Score (CAC) Scan: Getting to the heart of the matter isn’t that difficult if you know what tests to get. The gold standard test is the coronary calcium scan. This is the test that insurance companies use to determine your health status and their risk status. Why do they use this test? Because there are no false positives – they can actually see if there is calcium build-up in your arteries. Something that cholesterol test.

Myeloperoxidase (MPO) Blood Test: This important enzyme is a biomarker of oxidative stress that is released when arteries and blood vessels are injured and inflammed. This is a much more targeted test for arterial health than cholesterol tests or C-Reactive protein. It is an independent indicator of the presence of vulnerable arterial plaques that increase a person’s risk for heart attack. For this reason it is considered a pre-event marker and high levels mean a potential plaque burst which can create a heart attack causing blood clot. This test was created by a team of Cleveland Clinic researchers based on a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which showed that those with high levels of MPO in the blood had a dramatically greater risk of cardiovascular disease than patients who had the lowest levels.

What the outdated cholesterol test does do is provide a basis for recommending Statin drugs which could also be killing you!

Dr. Okuyama, of Nagoya City University reports: “We have collected a wealth of information on cholesterol and statins from many published papers and find overwhelming evidence that these drugs accelerate hardening of the arteries and can cause, or worsen, heart failure. I cannot find any evidence to support people taking statins and patients who are on them should stop”(1).

Dr. Peter Langsjoen, a heart specialist in Texas warns: “Statins are being used so aggressively and in such large numbers of people that the adverse effects are now becoming obvious. These drugs should never have been approved for use. The long-term effects are devastating.”

Dr. Langsjoen conducted research on 50 patients who discontinued taking statin drugs. Instead they supplemented with Coenzyme Q10 and the research team saw no adverse consequences(2).

The Lancet (prestigious British Medical Journal) in 1994 reported that most individuals with coronary artery disease have normal cholesterol levels!
The famous Framingham study shows that ‘Our rush to lower total cholesterol levels may have been in error’. To cite the Framingham authors: “For each 1 mg/dl decrease of cholesterol level in blood, there was an 11 percent increase in coronary and total mortality.“(In other words, low cholesterol level actually increased the death rate).

 (1)Okuyama H, e. (2016). Statins stimulate atherosclerosis and heart failure: pharmacological mechanisms. – PubMed – NCBI. (2)Langsjoen PH, e. (2016). Treatment of statin adverse effects with supplemental Coenzyme Q10 and statin drug discontinuation. – PubMed – NCBI.