Paul Saladino· MD
People with high LDL can follow their calcium scores three to five years and see if it is changing in such a way that could be potentially detrimental
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The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
People with high LDL can follow their calcium scores three to five years and see if it is changing in such a way that could be potentially detrimental
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What is your LDL now? Uh my LDL runs between 250 and 300. My CAC score checked twice, three years apart, has remained zero. Zero. And that's in the context, right? Everyone says, "Oh, well, maybe you have great genetics." No. My dad died of heart disease. My dad had bypass surgery. My grandmother had heart surgery. Uh, I have two siblings who both have nonzero scores, we'll say. And so, it's clearly not genetics working in my favor. It's what I'm doing. It's the diet. It's the lifestyle. And you know again I have personal stake in the game right when I'm talking to patients about what does high LDL mean and what doesn't it mean uh because I'm living it as well. What about fasting insulin and your other inflammatory markers you may ask. So fasting insulin runs between four and six. Uh CRP always very low less than one. Um, all the other stuff looks good. I'm not quite lean mass, right? My uh but my triglycerides usually run around 70 and my HDL is in the mid50s to lower 60s. Uh so, you know, it's it's good, I think, by my, you know, by the standards I use. And I'm metabolically healthy. You are metabolically healthy. That's the key thing. And I don't have inflammation and the LDL is not problematic, right? and and my particles are large and you know pattern a all of those things that we can look at. Want to pause the podcast just for one minute to tell you guys about something I'm really proud of. I built heart and soil about four and a half years ago. We make desiccated organs. We put them in capsules. In this podcast, you've heard Dr. Ovadia and I talk about heart, but one of my favorites is Whole Package. This has testicle, liver, and blood in it, and a lot of men find a ton of benefits with whole package. There's a women's supplement called her package. We make lots of desiccated organ capsules that also contain heart if you want to get heart or other organs into your diet without actually eating the organs. Like I said in the podcast, I have been known to put raw heart in my smoothies. But if you don't want to do that, check us out. We have grass-fed, grass-finished organs in gelatin capsules. All of our stuff is in glass. You can find us at heartandsoil.co. We'll circle back to some of these things we talked about at the beginning of the podcast. You said you have a CAC scan. A CAC is what I did. I did it about five years ago. Mine was also zero when I was 42. I also have a family history of early onset heart disease and a primary relative. My father had an angoplasty when he was 42. My CAC was zero with a LDL cholesterol of 350 plus at that time in my life and that was about when I switched to eating carbohydrates. So my LDL is much lower and that's interesting. The downsides as far as CAC goes as I can tell is it has a little more it has more radiation, right? So if people are thinking the the what are they going to do for imaging? You have CAC, CT coronary angio. I guess these all have some radiation. So is this something to think about? Is it safe to get a CAC every year? It's how much radiation in a CAC scan? One millisecever. Yeah, it's pretty low. It's about equivalent to a chest X-ray. It's Oh, it's that low. Yeah, it is that low now. And it's about how much radiation you're going to get with like an average flight, right? Across the country. Not even across the country. a couple hour flight, you know, uh the amount of excess radiation that you're exposed to during that is going to be equivalent. So, so there's really no reason not to get it. Yeah, I do think you can get a CAC every year. I don't think it's necessary every year for everyone. What I tell people is, you know, if you have a zero score, depending on your age, you know, you can wait three maybe five years
I do think you can get a CAC every year. I don't think it's necessary every year for everyone. What I tell people is, you know, if you have a zero score, depending on your age, you know, you can wait three maybe five years to check it again.
So, so there's really no reason not to get it. Yeah, I do think you can get a CAC every year. I don't think it's necessary every year for everyone. What I tell people is, you know, if you have a zero score, depending on your age, you know, you can wait three maybe five years
It's how much radiation in a CAC scan? One millisecever. Yeah, it's pretty low. It's about equivalent to a chest X-ray. It's Oh, it's that low. Yeah, it is that low now. And it's about how much radiation you're going to get with like an average flight, right? Across the country. Not even across the country. a couple hour flight, you know, uh the amount of excess radiation that you're exposed to during that is going to be equivalent.