HEARThrive – Module 1A – Advanced Blood Secrets

If there were a way you could predict whether you might be on the path toward heart disease you probably would want to know how to discover it. This is especially true if you learned this could be accomplished via simple blood tests. And it’s even more encouraging when you realize there are simple things you can do starting now to help mitigate your future risks. Most doctors and cardiologists will look at your cholesterol and if it’s high they will warn you about heart disease or a potential heart attack or stroke. It’s easy to lower cholesterol using a statin drug, so that’s what you’ll be told to do. Unfortunately, you are receiving incomplete or possibly ineffective advice when they focus on cholesterol. You need to know a lot more about other factors that are even more important in predicting your cardiovascular risk. That’s where advanced blood work comes in. You need a full cardiometabolic panel of tests to truly gauge your health. In Module 1A of HEARThrive you will learn about these tests. Malcolm and Myron Achtman both did the full SpectraCell cardiometabolic suite of tests in 2014, on the same day and at the same time. Each test will be explained in depth in this module. We now know the biggest risk factor associated with heart disease is diabetes. That’s why SpectraCell begins with a Prediabetes panel that includes measurements of fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c. Maybe you’ve had those tests, but has your doctor ever ordered other critical tests including fasting insulin, C-peptide and Adiponectin? SpectraCell includes these in their advanced testing. They also include a basic lipid panel, but we’re going to focus much more closely on two measurements here that your doctor probably ignores – triglycerides and HDL. Next comes vascular inflammation markers. It’s known that heart disease is integrated with chronic inflammation. The advanced array of SpectraCell’s inflammation tests includes high-sensitive C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and Lp(a). These tests were discussed in Module 1 of HEARThrive as well. The gem among the tests is the advanced lipoprotein panel. Here we go way beyond routine cholesterol measurements and instead look in detail at the nature of lipoprotein particles that transport cholesterol in your body. These are believed to be a lot more predictive of heart disease risk and indirectly reflect your metabolic health as well.