Despite all you've heard, your cholesterol level is NOT a very good predictor of heart attack or stroke.

Consider this: Half of the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels.

And this: Studies have shown that dietary cholesterol does not cause vascular disease in animals. Studies in humans have produced conflicting results.

Despite these facts, the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) is putting more emphasis than ever on cholesterol. Recently, in a highly publicized national promotional campaign, they announced new cholesterol guidelines. The net affect of these new guidelines is that millions of Americans will be asked to take cholesterol-lowering drugs.

This is dangerous.

There are other factors to consider and other tests to take.

For example...

* Your risk of heart attach is linked to your homocysteine level *

Most of my patients haven't heard of homocysteine as a predictor of cardiovascular events (heart attack, and stroke). One reason is that no big drug companies are marketing a drug to reduce homocysteine.

Homocysteine is not only a predictor, but also an initiator of cardiac events. It irritates the lining of blood vessels. Excess homocysteine inhibits blood vessels from dilating. This decreases blood flow at critical times of stress. Inadequate blood flow to the heart causes heart attacks. Inadequate blood flow to the brain causes strokes.

The Physician's Health Study is a landmark report tracking 15,000 male physicians. One remarkable finding -participants who had high homocysteine levels were 3 times as likely to have a heart attack. This was regardless of their cholesterol levels.

Another well-done study in The European Journal of Clinical Investigation found elevated homocysteine levels in stroke victims. I have seen at least 20 studies finding strong links between homocysteine and devastating cardiac events.

When taken together this research shows that homocysteine is a better predictor of cardiovascular events than cholesterol.

* Millions More on Cholesterol Drugs *

The University Hospital in Switzerland has recently announced that cholesterol failed to demonstrate a statistically significant connection with coronary artery disease. Yet, cholesterol screening continues to be dubbed as the best predictor of heart attacks.

The NCEP new guidelines will include more people. Unless we are better educated, they will lead to a higher use of cholesterol lowering drugs. About 52 million people are on some treatment for high cholesterol. The new guidelines are expected to expand that number to 65 million. 13 million people are now being prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs. The number is anticipated to climb to 36 million!

I cannot stress enough the dangers of cholesterol lowering drugs. There are natural and safer alternatives. For details on the dangers of cholesterol lowering drugs, see Health Alert 4. For a safe and effective alternative, see Health Alert 5.

*Other Action to Take Now *

Have your homocysteine level in your blood checked. Your homocysteine should be under 8. Below 7 is even better.

You can lower your homocysteine. It's as easy as taking a supplement. No harsh drugs are necessary. My bet is that if Merck or Pfizer made a drug for it, homocysteine would be a household word.

Homocysteine is broken down with help from several B vitamins. The University Hospital in Switzerland has done studies nicely proving it. I have not had a single case of elevated homocysteine that couldn't be corrected with nothing more than a natural supplement. The usual dose I use is Vitamin B2 – 25 mg, B6 – 25 mg, B12 - 500 mcg and folate – 800 mcg.

Al Sears, MD