February is heart month—a time to focus on heart health. Our body is interconnected, and our heart health is directly impacted by our metabolic health.

There is often a heavy emphasis on LDL (low-density lipoprotein), which is part of your cholesterol and acts as a transporter for cholesterol. Conventional medicine typically views LDL levels above 100 as requiring treatment with drugs like statins. Previously, patients were encouraged to make lifestyle changes before resorting to medication. However, statins are now commonly the first line of therapy despite their risks, including muscle pain (from COQ10 depletion), increased risk of diabetes, dementia, peripheral neuropathy, and depression. Cholesterol is necessary for immune response, hormone health, and brain function.

Emerging research suggests that LDL alone is not the best predictor of heart disease or cardiac events. Instead, metabolic health indicators such as blood sugar, insulin levels, blood pressure, triglycerides, smoking status, and waist circumference are more predictive. These are modifiable without medication. A new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) titled Association of Lipid, Inflammatory, and Metabolic Biomarkers With Age at Onset for Incident Coronary Heart Disease in Women supports this.

Key metabolic markers include:

1. High blood glucose/sugar: Excess sugar increases insulin demand. When cells are overloaded with glucose (from high-carb, high-sugar, and processed food diets), excess glucose is stored as fat, particularly in the abdomen. Insulin acts as a fat storage hormone.
2. Increasing insulin levels: High insulin levels lead to increased blood fats, including triglycerides.
3. High triglycerides: Indicate insulin resistance, often caused by high carb/refined sugar intake, high fructose corn syrup, and alcohol consumption.
4. Increased waist circumference: Excess fat produces inflammatory cytokines, leading to inflammation and increasing the risk of diseases like strokes, heart attacks, dementia, cancer, and diabetes.
5. High blood pressure: Often a result of high blood sugar and insulin levels, which stiffen blood vessels and raise pressure.
6. Smoking: Damages blood vessels, increases blood pressure, and causes numerous other health issues.

The good news is that adopting a therapeutic carbohydrate restriction diet can help reverse metabolic dysfunction. Interventions include testing fasting blood sugar, fasting insulin, triglyceride levels, A1C (a 3-month average of blood sugar), waist circumference, and baseline blood pressure readings over 7–10 days. Fasting glucose and A1C alone may not reveal early signs of insulin resistance. Post-meal high blood sugar that takes a long time to normalize is often missed with current testing but may indicate metabolic dysfunction.

Metabolic Syndrome Criteria

Having three out of the five conditions below indicates metabolic syndrome:

• Blood Pressure ≥130/85
• Fasting Blood Sugar ≥100
• HDL <40 (Men) or <50 (Women)
• Waist circumference >40″ (Men) or >35″ (Women)
• Triglycerides >150

For more information, read the study: JAMA Cardiology Article.

By addressing these metabolic indicators, you can improve your heart health and reduce the risks of cardiovascular-related events.