Is There a Stonger Heart Risk than Cholesterol?

[Guest guest]

Is There a Stronger Heart Risk Than Cholesterol?Thu Feb 27,11:55 PM

EThttp://story.news./news?tmpl=story & u=/hsn/20030228/hl_hsn/is_there_a_\

stronger_heart_risk_than_cholesterol_Add Health - HealthScoutNews to My

By Ed Edelson

HealthScoutNews Reporter

THURSDAY, Feb. 27 (HealthScoutNews) -- In the latest chapter of a running

controversy, researchers say the best blood test to assess cardiovascular risk

should look not at cholesterol but at apolipoproteins, the molecules that carry

cholesterol in the blood.

 

In HealthColon Cancer:

Katie Couric supports Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month

 

More from Health: • Get the Facts • Early Detection • Catch it Early

• Email A Friend

 

 

A search of the medical literature shows that " we can get more precise

information " by measuring apolipoprotein levels, rather than cholesterol, says

Dr. Goran Walldius, a senior scientist with the AstraZeneca pharmaceutical

company, lead author of a paper making that proposal in the March 1 issue of The

Lancet.

 

 

There's nothing in it for AstraZeneca, Walldius is quick to add. Although the

company is about to market a cholesterol-lowering statin drug -- it just

received approval for the drug, Crestor, in Canada and is awaiting U.S. approval

-- measuring apolipoproteins rather than cholesterol wouldn't give a boost to

that drug in particular, he says.

 

 

Instead, an apolipoprotein test would tell doctors more about cardiac risk and

the effectiveness of treatment than current cholesterol tests, Walldius

contends.

 

 

" Total cholesterol in the blood can be misleading, " he says. " Now we can measure

the proteins that transport cholesterol and more closely monitor a person's

condition. "

 

 

The American Heart Association (news - web sites) (AHA) isn't ready to agree,

however. The proposal has been raised repeatedly, and the consensus is that the

evidence isn't strong enough to make a change, says Dr. Robert H. Eckel, a

spokesman for the AHA.

 

 

" This review is meritorious in terms of scientific content, and in individual

patients measuring apolipoprotein levels might be more valuable than measuring

cholesterol, " Eckel says. " But it would be premature for the American Heart

Association to recommend such a change. "

 

 

Apolipoprotein A transports HDL cholesterol, the " good " kind that helps keep

arteries open. Apolipoprotein B transports LDL cholesterol, the " bad " kind that

clogs arteries. Measuring the ratio of A to B gives a better assessment of how

well a person is doing than an ordinary cholesterol test, Walldius says.

 

 

That conclusion comes from analysis of four large-scale studies that included

almost 200,000 adults, he says. On the basis of those studies, " what we need to

do now is to develop guidelines so that physicians know which reading is too

high and which is low, " he adds. " We hope they can be developed in the next few

years. "

 

 

The heart association " is not closing that door, " Eckel says. But the studies

cited by Walldius and his colleagues are well-known and their results are " not

regarded as convincing enough, " he says.

 

 

An apolipoprotein blood test is available, and Eckel, a professor of physiology

and biophysics at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, says he

uses it " frequently, " measuring apolipoprotein B when a patient's cholesterol is

normal or low but blood levels of triglycerides, another potential risk factor,

are low.

 

 

But, he adds, for most patients, he sticks to the standard cholesterol test.

 

 

 

The complete " Whole Body " Health line consists of the " AIM GARDEN TRIO "

Ask About Health Professional Support Series: AIM Barleygreen

 

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/AIM.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!