You cannot depend on your HDL-LDL ratio. Kummerow and colleagues from the UI and Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, Ill., studied 1,200 patients who were cardiac-catheterized. All of them had elevated levels of four oxysterols. Calcium infiltration is the hallmark of heart disease. Failure to recognize angina as a warning signal contributes to needless deaths from heart disease.
Cardiac catheterization can determine if bypass surgery is needed.
Eating a well-balanced diet remains the best medicine to protect against heart disease, he said. Antioxidants such as vitamins E and C and those in vegetables and fruits can reduce oxysterol production and slow down calcification, but they won't reduce existing problems, he added. The Wallace Research Foundation of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the Carle Foundation in Urbana, Ill., supported the research.