Why LDL is Not Enough: The Tests Your Doctor is Missing to Assess Your Risk of Heart Disease | Know Your Numbers

View the Show Notes For This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal Get Ad-free Episodes & Dr. Hyman+ Audio Exclusives Heart disease is the world's leading cause of death. For years, the diet-heart hypothesis, which centers on high cholesterol as the primary culprit, has dominated the medical discourse. But now, we're beginning to appreciate the complexity and nuance of how the outer workings of our environment influence the inner workings of our physiology and risk for heart disease. In today’s episode of a new series I’m calling Know Your Numbers, I deep dive into the Functional Medicine approach to assessing cardiovascular risk and why this is key to preventing and, in some cases, reversing cardiovascular disease. You can test your cardiovascular risk with Function Health, a company I co-founded. It has been a lifelong dream for me. Function is the first-ever membership that includes 100+ lab tests and personalized insights from globally renowned doctors based on your results. Join Function at FunctionHealth.com. This episode is brought to you by AG1, Sweetgreen, and OPEN. Get your daily serving of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and more with AG1. Head to DrinkAG1.com/Hyman and get 10 FREE travel packs + a FREE Welcome Kit with your first order. We could use more Sweetgreens in the world. So check out your nearest Sweetgreen or go to Sweetgreen.com to learn more. Take your meditation practice further and start your FREE 30-day trial of Open by visiting withopen.com/MARK today. Here are more details from the episode (audio version / Apple Subscriber version): Prevalence of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks (9:38 / 8:08) Why conventional medicine misses the mark in assessing and treating cardiovascular disease risk and “high” cholesterol (10:50 / 9:20) The testing you should be getting to assess cardiovascular risk (28:23 / 26:53) The major root causes of heart disease (46:38 / 44:10) Cholesterol: What is it and how is it related to heart disease? (47:20 / 44:52) Insulin resistance and heart disease (55:09 / 52:50) Total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL cholesterol, and other relevant biomarkers (58:12 / 55:44) Root causes of suboptimal biomarkers (1:28:05 / 1:25:37) Additional diagnostic testing (1:31:04 / 1:28:36) Diet, lifestyle, and supplements for reducing cardiovascular risk (1:37:30 / 1:35:02)