What Standard Cholesterol Testing Isn't Telling You

This episode is brought to you by Rupa University, AG1, and Pendulum. Dietary cholesterol from saturated fat is often thought to be the cause of high LDL cholesterol and blocked arteries. But we now know from updated research that it’s much more complicated than that. Standard cholesterol testing is outdated because it doesn’t check for particle size and particle number, information that is needed to tell what’s really going on with your cholesterol. Statins are often prescribed to lower LDL cholesterol, but often do not address the root of the problem and can cause very uncomfortable side effects. In today’s episode, I talk with Drs. Elizabeth Boham, Ronald Krauss, and Aseem Malhotra about the true role of cholesterol and what is really behind heart disease. Dr. Elizabeth Boham is a physician and nutritionist who practices Functional Medicine at The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, MA. Through her practice and lecturing she has helped thousands of people achieve their goals of optimum health and wellness. She witnesses the power of nutrition every day in her practice and is committed to training other physicians to utilize nutrition in healing. Dr. Ronald Krauss is a Senior Scientist at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, a Professor of Medicine at UCSF, and an Adjunct Professor of Nutritional Sciences at UC Berkeley. Dr. Krauss’s research aims to understand how to best prevent cardiovascular disease through early detection and management of its major risk factors: most notably, elevated levels of blood cholesterol and lipoproteins. He has published more than 450 research articles and reviews on metabolic, genetic, dietary, and drug effects on plasma lipoproteins and the risk of coronary artery disease, with more than 100,000 citations of this work. Dr. Aseem Malhotra is an NHS-trained consultant cardiologist and visiting Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health in Salvador, Brazil. He is a founding member of Action on Sugar. In 2015, he became the youngest member to be appointed to the board of trustees of UK health charity The King's Fund. He is a pioneer of the lifestyle medicine movement in the UK and in 2018 was ranked by software company Onalytica as the number one doctor in the world influencing obesity thinking. This episode is brought to you by Rupa University, AG1, and Pendulum. Rupa University is hosting FREE classes and bootcamps for healthcare providers who want to learn more about Functional Medicine testing. Sign up at RupaUniversity.com. Get your daily serving of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and more with AG1. Head to DrinkAG1.com/Hyman and get 10 FREE travel packs with your first order. Pendulum is offering listeners 20% off their first month’s subscription of Akkermansia for gut health. Visit PendulumLife.com and use code HYMAN. Full-length episodes of these interviews can be found here: Dr. Elizabeth Boham Dr. Ronald Krauss Dr. Aseem Malhotra