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Cardiologists have been arguing with each other for years about which is the best measure of blood fat to assess our risk of heart disease. Cardiologists have been arguing with each other for years about which is the best measure of blood fat to assess our risk of developing coronary heart disease. You see, if you just rely on low density lipoprotein cholesterol – LDL (the bad kind) – or total cholesterol, a fair proportion of people slip through the cracks. Some studies have suggested that substances called apolipoproteins are more accurate. But they're more expensive to measure and the question is whether the cost, effort and confusion is worth the added precision, especially when there may be a way of making existing cholesterol measurements work better. A 15-year follow up of over 3000 men and women has found that there is a more accurate measure of coronary risk, but it doesn't need apolipoproteins. If you have your good cholesterol tested – your HDL – and your total cholesterol, which contains all the different kinds good and bad, then the higher the proportion of your total cholesterol which is made up of HDL the lower your risk, and it's just as accurate as the apolipoproteins. So with your cholesterol, save your money and much more importantly, mine, and go with the tried and true.
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