Advanced Lipid Testing Benefits

Everyone knows that you’re supposed to eat “heart healthy” and strive for “low cholesterol,” but that’s an oversimplification. The fats you eat and how your body reacts to them boils down to more than just “low cholesterol good, high cholesterol bad,” and sometimes basic testing doesn’t give you a clear enough picture of your overall health. 

At West Houston Heart Center in Houston, Texas, Dr. Humayun Naqvi and his team offer preventive cardiology, including diagnosis of and treatment for high cholesterol. We can also arrange for advanced lipid testing if the results from a basic cholesterol panel don’t show us everything we need to know.

Cholesterol basics

Cholesterol is a type of fat that has important functions in your body. You need some cholesterol so you can:

• Build and maintain cell membranes
• Produce hormones like estrogen and testosterone
• Synthesize vitamin D
• Produce bile so you can digest fats that you eat

Your liver produces cholesterol naturally, and should make all you need. However, you’re probably getting extra cholesterol from your diet.

Types of cholesterol

There are two main types of cholesterol. We usually label one kind “good” and the other kind “bad” when talking about levels.

HDL or high-density lipoprotein

HDL is “good” cholesterol. It helps clear out extra cholesterol your body doesn’t need. Your body makes HDL, and you can get it from foods like fatty fish, nuts, avocados, olive oil, whole grains, and legumes.

LDL or low-density lipoprotein

LDL is “bad” cholesterol. It contributes to plaque build-up in your arteries, causing atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) which can, in turn, lead to high blood pressure, heart attack, or stroke.

Your lipid panel

Your doctor will tell you if you need a cholesterol panel. We draw blood and test for HDL, LDL, triglycerides (complex fats) as well as total cholesterol. This lipid panel gives us results measured in milligrams of cholesterol per deciliter of blood, or mg/dL. 

Ideally, we like to see HDL levels above 60, LDL levels below 100, triglycerides below 150, and your total cholesterol below 200. If you’re female, your HDL is even more important to your good health.

Advanced lipid testing

Sometimes a lipid panel can show us levels, but the levels don’t match up with your health. If you have a high risk or family history of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or insulin resistance, or symptoms of high cholesterol even with “within range” numbers, we may have you come in for advanced lipid testing. 

This kind of test is able to detect actual cholesterol particles in your plasma, which can help us understand why you still have progressing cardiovascular disease even if your cholesterol levels seemed to be great on the basic panel.

Benefits of in-depth lipid tests

Advanced lipid testing can help us predict heart disease and potentially head off a cardiovascular event by changing your treatment plan. Results may lead us to prescribe statins (cholesterol-lowering drugs) or recommend lifestyle changes to improve your health and prevent your arteries from narrowing.

Worried about lipid levels and your cardiovascular health? Schedule an appointment at West Houston Heart Center. Call us at 832-400-3957, or request an appointment online.