High Cholesterol
If you are like most Americans, you may be worried about high cholesterol. Approximately 10% of US adults have an “elevated” total cholesterol of 240 or greater. Cholesterol is actually a part lipid (fat) and part protein molecule. Even though we may think of it as a “bad” thing to have, it’s actually an essential part of our cell membranes and is the building block for many important hormones. So we actually need cholesterol. Efforts to reduce total cholesterol aggressively have good intentions, to prevent heart attacks and strokes, but it’s just not that simple.
To evaluate your risk of heart attacks and strokes you need better lab determinants than total high cholesterol and a typical “lipid panel”. Advanced cardiac markers such as particle sizes, inflammatory markers, insulin levels, and advanced markers such as homocysteine, and Lipoprotein (a) can leave you at a much higher (10x higher!) risk of heart attack than just looking at your total cholesterol and calculated LDL. This is where a functional medicine evaluation shines to give you a much better realistic look at your chances of having a heart attack or stroke. Most conventional, allopathic doctors do not check these markers and these are the determinants of important cardiac risk factors.
If you are interested in evaluating and improving your risk for a serious cardiac event and stroke with a thorough functional medicine evaluation, click the “book online” link to schedule an appointment with Happy Minds Healthy Bodies today.