The Silent Health Risk Could Be Hiding in Your Blood

Eleven medical organizations agree that you should start getting your cholesterol levels checked starting in your 30s to prevent strokes and heart attacks. High cholesterol doesn't have symptoms for the most part, it's sometimes called "the slient killer."

If you have a family history of heart issues or you are at risk of heart disease, you can have blood work done starting in your 30s and continue to track it into old age. Heart disease the leading cause of death in men and women.

The American Heart Association issued new guidance that includes a third test. Old recommendations included getting your LDL (or bad cholesterol) and your HDL (the good kind) tested. These tests are still important. But now there’s a new test that provides insight into long-term risks.

A One-Time Test

The new recommendation is a one-time lipoprotein(a) test that primary care doctors are starting to recommend as a prevention strategy. Elevated levels indicate an inherited risk for heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular issues.

Measuring additional biomarkers, “can give a more complete picture of someone's cardiovascular risk and help inform decisions about whether lipid-lowering therapy is needed sooner rather than later,” wrote Roger Blumenthal, MD, a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore who chaired the guideline writing committee, in a statement.

Plaque on Arteries

The new guidelines also recommended people get a non-invasive scan that measures calcified plaque in the arteries.

Statins are the first-line treatment for high cholesterol, and these two new tools can help people take care of their health in a proactive way, rather than a reactive way.

Diet and exercise are also important factors in keeping your heart healthy. A study published in the journal Nature Communications touted the cholesterol-lowering effects of eating oatmeal, which also improves the gut micrombiome.

"Various clinical studies have confirmed these beneficial effects of oats, and health claims have been approved for the cholesterol-lowering properties," the study authors note.