fries, eggs, butter, desserts, ice cream. your cholesterol number is a good measure of what s in the blood. but here s the problem it doesn t tell if you it is building up in the walls of your blood vessels forming plaque. it s the plaque that causes heart attacks. if you look in the coronary care unit at people that have heart attacks, the cholesterol levels of those who have heart attacks versus those in the street who have it are essentially the same. that is kind of surprising. right? because you ll hear people exchanging their cholesterol numbers. if it is low they seem quite proud of it. if it is high, there s cause for concern. you say that that s you know what? you re not looking in the right place. that s essentially useless. here s what does matter, he says. the size of your ldl, or bad cholesterol particles. larger ldl particles don t pose much of a threat because they pass through the blood vessels without sticking. it is the smaller ldl particles that are more
street who have it are essentially the same. that is kind of surprising. right? because you ll hear people exchanging their cholesterol numbers. if it is low they seem quite proud of it. if it is high, there s cause for concern. you say that that s you know what? you re not looking in the right place. that s essentially useless. here s what does matter, he says. the size of your ldl, or bad cholesterol particles. larger ldl particles don t pose much of a threat because they pass through the blood vessels without sticking. it is the smaller ldl particles that are more likely to lodge in the walls of blood vessels and cause a build-up of plaque. if they re small, you can have a lot of little particles that penetrate the vessel wall more easily. there are a lot of little old ladies in their 80s with very high cholesterols who have squeaky clean vessels. they have very large cholesterol particles and they don t get in to the vessel wall. so you have to ask about the size of the
everywhere you look, it seems a heart attack is just waiting to happen. more than 1 million heart attacks a year. that s one just about every 30 seconds. just in the united states. if you haven t had a heart attack yourself, you likely know someone who has. i ve got a secret to share. with what we know right now, we could see the last heart attack in america. i ve been investigating this for over a year. i ve got lessons to share, things you need to know. things your doctor may not tell you. i m a pretty typical guy in his early 40s with a family history of heart disease. so i decided to go on a mission to never have a heart attack. but how? dr. arthur agiston has guaranteed he can see trouble coming. gleers advance. here s where the blood is flow, and this is the lining reporter: he is using an ultrasound to look for plaque in the artery leading to my brain. a blockage heerl could cause a stroke and would be a sign that i m at increased risk for heart attack. unles
things you need to know. things your doctor may not tell you. i m a pretty typical guy in his early 40s with a family history of heart disease. so i decided to go on a mission to never have a heart attack. but how? dr. arthur agiston has guaranteed he can see trouble coming. this is the lining reporter: he is using an ultrasound to look for plaque in the artery leading to my brain. it could cause a stroke and would be a sign of an increased risk for heart attack. unless you do the imaging and the advanced testing, you are really playing russian roulette with your life. you re actually going to look for what in my heart? yes, for calcium, which is part of the process, the plaque s in the heart. i ve never had a problem, but you re looking for it anyways? yes, and if you re heading for a heart attack in five, ten, 20 years, you would already have plaque. it s a lifelong process. reporter: we all know plaque is bad. blocks your blood vessels. plaque is formed
someone who has. i ve got a secret to share with what we know right now? we could see the last heart attack in america. i ve been investigating this for over a year. i ve got lessons to share, things you need to know, things your doctor may not tell you. i was lucky i didn t die of a heart attack. reporter: former president clinton, like too many people, was busy. and for years he ignored warning signs from his heart. but in 2004, during an exhausting book tour, there was something different. i had a real tightness in my chest when i was getting off the airplane and the only time i d had it unrelated to exercise. reporter: we re here outside new york presbyterian hospital. in just a couple of hours, former president bill clinton is scheduled to undergo surgery. so i immediately went down to our local hospital and they did a test, they said you got real problems. they hustled me down to columbia presbyterian and they confirmed the determination that i had serious b