Do Cholesterol Numbers Properly Assess Cardiovascular Risk? Lipoprotein Particle Numbers Tell the Real Story

LPP™ Testing is essential to identifying at-risk patients
Approximately 50 percent of heart attack victims had “normal” cholesterol levels. How can the large discrepancy between accurate diagnosis and standard cholesterol testing be prevented? Simply by testing the LDL (low density lipoprotein) particle numbers using the Lipoprotein Particle Profile™ (LPP™) from SpectraCell Laboratories.

Lipoprotein particles and cholesterol
Cholesterol testing has historically been used as the standard indicator for cardiovascular disease classified as HDL (good) or LDL (bad). However, it is actually the lipoprotein particles that carry the cholesterol throughout the body, not necessarily the cholesterol within them, that are responsible for key steps in plaque production and the resulting development of cardiovascular disease.

Approximately 50 percent of people suffering from heart attacks have shown “normal” cholesterol numbers (NHLBI – The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute).

Now there is an advanced cholesterol testing technology which accurately measures both the density and number of lipoprotein particles. This test is the Lipoprotein Particle Profile™, or LPP™, from SpectraCell Laboratories. Measuring the lipoprotein subgroups is the only way to evaluate new risk factors, which is crucial for an accurate assessment of cardiovascular risk – according to the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP).

Why is it important to know lipoprotein numbers?
Cardiovascular risk increases with a higher LDL particle count. With a higher non-HDL lipoprotein count the probability of particle penetration of the arterial wall rises, regardless of the total amount of cholesterol contained in each particle. On average, the typical particle contains 50 percent cholesterol.

More than 20 percent of the population has cholesterol-depleted LDL, a condition in which your cholesterol may be “normal” but your lipoprotein particle number, and hence your actual risk, could be much higher than expected. This is especially common in people whose triglycerides are high or HDL is low. In the population with a cholesterol-depleted LDL, there can be up to a 40 percent error in risk assessment.

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