Does your doc perform THIS vital heart check?

I’ve never bought into the cholesterol-causes-heart-disease narrative.

I only care if there’s disease in the arteries. Then—and only then—should something be done.

That’s why I swear by this vital heart test…

A better predictor of DEATH

I’m talking about your coronary artery calcium (CAC) score, which determines your risk of atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis occurs when your arteries narrow and blood flow to your heart decreases due to plaque build-up.

And it can be a silent disease.

See, having plaque in your arteries doesn’t always come with noticeable symptoms, like chest pain or shortness of breath. For this reason, atherosclerosis is considered a subclinical disease.

(Traditional medicine often ignores it for this very reason—because there are no symptoms to treat.)

But new research highlights just how dangerous it is.

In fact, plaque burden—as assessed through CAC score or a new three-dimensional (3D) vascular ultrasound—was found to be a better predictor of death than traditional heart disease risk factors!

You should know at ANY age

In a prospective cohort study called BioImage, researchers examined over 6,100 participants without cardiovascular symptoms, but with high CAC scores or plaque burden (assessed through 3D ultrasound).

It turns out, this plaque build-up significantly predicted death risk during the 15-year follow-up period.

Plus, the CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) study highlighted that we should assess these risk factors early. Even young adults, including those in their twenties, are already showing signs of atherosclerosis.

(That’s not really a surprise to me, given that autopsies from young men during the Vietnam War showed the exact same thing. But like most things in traditional medicine, it takes half a century to trickle down to useful information that can save lives.)

Ultimately, the risk of experiencing a cardiovascular-related event is related to plaque burden and the number of years a patient has been exposed to that burden. So, the earlier we can identify the burden, the more time we might have to slow, arrest, or reverse the plaque (and arterial damage).

For more insight about how to protect your cardiovascular health, check out my Ultimate Heart-Protection Protocol.

Source:

“New Evidence That Plaque Buildup Shouldn’t Be Ignored.” Medscape, 10/09/2024. (medscape.com/viewarticle/new-evidence-plaque-buildup-shouldnt-be-ignored-2024a1000ihw)