In your book, you discuss the heart's "literal age." What does that mean?
Measuring the literal age of a person's cardiovascular system is much more important than measuring other cardiac risk factors. The thicker your arteries, the "older" they are. You could be 40 and have 50-year-old arteries.
With high-tech ultrasound equipment – carotid intima-media thickness testing (carotid IMT) – I can precisely calculate arterial plaque growth and estimate your arterial age. Carotid IMT is a safe predictor of risk for future cardiovascular events.
It must be done under a doctor's supervision. I recommend that carotid IMT scores be checked at least once in your lifetime.
Also, a chest CT scan allows me to see old calcium in the arteries. I have patients do this every two years and I can tell if an artery is growing, shrinking or staying the same.
[Editor's note: IMT measures the thickness of the inner two layers of the carotid artery. It alerts physicians to thickening before patients become symptomatic. Then your doctor can more aggressively manage your risk factors.
A CT, or computed tomography, scan combines a series of X-ray views and angles to get a clear view of your organs.]
Aren't cholesterol levels the main indicator of future heart problems?
Let's look at total cholesterol. Would you take all your debt and savings, add them together and call the sum a meaningful number? That makes no sense!
So why add up total cholesterol, when there's good and bad cholesterol?
If you eat junk, your arteries get clogged with LDL (low-density lipoprotein or "bad cholesterol"); it adds to arterial plaque. One type of LDL, though – large, puffy LDL particles – is not dangerous.
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