considering a heart scan

[Guest guest]

Hello -My total cholesterol has been high every test for 20 years. I've religiously followed the diets of Drs. Ornish and Fuhrman *and* did CRON for a year. I was

especially focused on the ON of CRON the last 5 months, making a

variety of legume soups with green leafy vegies as a base, eating it

for lunch with huge fruit and leafy green salads,

breakfast of apples, walnuts (small amt) and high fiber buckwheat,

omega 3s, flax seed. Dinner were a wee portion of chicken or more

legumes, plus veggies. No dairy (lactose intolerant) almost no refined

grains (gluten intolerant) and my numbers went UP. My HDL/LDL numbers the last four years have been 82/167, 88/142, 68/155, most recent is 85/172. My VLDL is in the good range at 20 and my triglycerides have never been out of the reference interval. I Googled and found:1. A JAMA article about a study of what appears to be the highly

inheritable longevity gene. There are people out there with

significantly larger LDL and HDL particle size and that it it's the

particle size, not the absolute numbers of LDL that appear to be

protective.

http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/290/15/20302. A link is to the cardiologist who specializes in cholesterol research who says his general rule is one does

not get coronary heart disease until one's age is greater that his/her

HDL. Meaning I wouldn't get heart disease until I'm 68. He would not put people on statins with numbers like mine.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=14632

My father smoked for 45 years, drank

to excess, ate donuts, Mountain Dew and a half a pound of bacon for

breakfast. He lived to be 89 in amazing health considering what we know

about diet. He had emphysema and

died

of pneumonia in his sleep. Mom, a conscientious

eater, had a heart attack and died suddenly at 69. I conclude, for better or worse, my genes are trumping my lifestyle mods.Could it be that my Dad had the longevity gene? Since my genes could be coming from either Mom or Dad, these lipid panels may, in my case, not be conclusive about the state of my

arteries. I'm considering a heart scan for $500. If my arteries

are clear as a bell after twenty years of high cholesterol, I'll conclude I have Dad's gene pool and won't

take statins. If my arteries are average or worse, I'll go on the statins. Does anyone have experience with heart scans as a predictor of heart disease?Andie