Triglyceride levels are a better biomarker for heart disease than LDL-C
Your fasting lipid profile test also measures a particle other than LDL, which is much more egregious—triglycerides. The level of these particles tells you how your liver is doing. The high risk ratio for triglycerides and heart disease is 1.8 (meaning that if they’re high, you have an 80 percent increased risk for heart attack) compared to LDL-C at 1.3.
Further, the main reason for high triglycerides has nothing to do with LDL-C; rather, it’s the refined carbohydrates and sugars in your diet. Again, the #1 risk factor for heart disease isn’t LDL-C (see Relatively high LDL-C doesn’t usually lead to a heart attack for most people); it’s the insulin resistance of metabolic syndrome, of which triglyceride is a much better biomarker than LDL-C.
In fact, the largest study of heart attacks in the US revealed that 66 percent of the victims had metabolic syndrome. And the primary driver? Insulin resistance. And its primary driver? Our out-of-control sugar consumption. Insulin resistance can be in part measured by your triglyceride level, which is a better predictor of death by heart attack than high LDL-C ever was.
References
- Lustig, Robert. (2021). Metabolical Chapter 2. “Modern Medicine” Treats Symptoms, Not Disease (p. 50). New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers.