Why You Should Ask For Advanced Lipid Testing

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Controversies in Cardiovascular Medicine is the intriguing title of a 2009 article in the American Heart Association’s Circulation publication.

Stop laughing – cholesterol research can be intriguing!  I’d label the situation frustrating more than intriguing, but here’s what is going on.

The controversy is essentially that advanced lipid testing (explained in Cholesterol Tests Your Doctor Hasn’t Told You About) has been around for 50 years and is a better predictor of cardiovascular disease risk than standard cholesterol blood tests, and yet these ‘advanced’ tests are still not widely prescribed.

In fact, the ‘standard’ cholesterol blood panels (total cholesterol,

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ApoB and Cardiovascular Risk

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In Cholesterol Tests Your Doctor Hasn’t Told You About, I briefly describe a cholesterol blood test for Apolipoprotein B (ApoB).  This simple blood test measures the number and size of LDL (bad) cholesterol: it’s an important test if you have high LDL (bad) cholesterol or are at ‘high risk’ of cardiac disease, as it provides a more finely tuned assessment of cardiovascular risk.

In fact, it might be a critical test for those with low LDL (bad) cholesterol – because it can reveal hidden cardiac risk.

While studies show ApoB is a better predictor of cardiac risk,

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