Oxidized LDL, a strong predictor of heart disease

February: Heart Healthy Month

OXIDIZED LDL PREDICTS THE PROGRESSION Heart Disease and Plaques in the Arteries

Research from JAMA, Journal of Internal Medicine and Circulation confirm that we can finally predict our risk of heart disease, even if symptom free, and in patients with no previous history of heart disease. Oxidized LDL helps to predict and prevent heart disease. It also reveals our needs for heart healthy antioxidants such as CoQ10.

High oxidized LDL is a predictor of:

·        Plaques in arteries

·        Metabolic syndrome/diabetes

·        Heart Disease

A simple blood test can measure oxidized LDL.

Wallenfeldt et al (1) in a three year longitudinal study measured the association between plasma oxidized LDL and the progress of clinically silent atherosclerosis; as measured by ultrasound in the carotid artery. Results showed that oxidized LDL significantly correlated with the number and size of plaque lesions and proved to be a strong predictor of the progression of atherosclerosis.

Meisinger et al (2) used two population based surveys conducted in the years 1989-1990 and 1994-1995 with follow up in 1998 to measure the association between plasma oxidized LDL and risk of acute coronary heart disease (CHD) events in men without prevalent CHD or diabetes mellitus at baseline. The mean follow up time was 5.6 years. Results showed that elevated levels of oxidized LDL are predictive of future acute (CHD) events in apparently healthy men.

Holvoet et al (3) measured oxidized LDL levels in 1,889 generally healthy people aged 33-45. After five years of follow up evaluation, patients in the top quintile level of oxidized LDL had 3.5 times the risk of developing metabolic-syndrome - a precursor to heart disease and type 2 diabetes. In a press release, author, Dr. David Jacobs, stated that these findings are especially important for prevention of heart disease since the participants were relatively young and free of symptoms.

1) Wallenfeldt et al, Oxidized low-density lipoprotein in plasma is a prognostic marker of subclinical atherosclerosis development in clinically healthy men. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2004;256: 413-420.

(2) Meisinger et al, Plasma oxidized low-density lipoprotein, a strong predictor for acute coronary heart disease events in apparently healthy, middle-aged men from the general population. Circulation. 2005;
112:651-657

(3) Holvoet et al, Association between circulating low-density lipoprotein and incidence of the metabolic syndrome. JAMA. 2008; 299(19):2287-2293.