APO B: A Woman's Best Early Warning for Heart Disease?
Noel Peterson, N.D.
When it comes to cholesterol, researchers are discovering that the sum of the parts is actually much greater than the whole. A 1998 study in a journal published by the American Heart Association examined the relationship between lipid markers and coronary artery disease (CAD) in 235 women in a community-referral cardiology clinic. The research team found that apolipoprotein B (apo B), a protein component of LDL-cholesterol--the "bad" cholesterol--was the most accurate indicator of CAD status in women, particularly in women with low total cholesterol levels.
Over a period of five years, Dutch researchers investigated lipid profiles of women being examined for coronary artery disease using standard angiography. Most of the women in the study were postmenopausal and, after adjusting for age and other factors, researchers found that every lipid marker independently correlated with the presence of coronary artery disease. These markers included total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, LDL, Apo A-1, and Apo B. Significantly, however, many women with low total cholesterol still exhibited signs of coronary artery disease, and the researchers discovered that of all the markers, it was high levels of Apo B that most strongly predicted the presence of coronary artery disease in women. This may be because elevated apo-B, especially when accompanied by elevated triglycerides, often indicates a higher concentration of the small, dense LDL particles that are more likely to trigger progressive fatty deposits in the arteries.
The good news is that over the last 10 years we have learned that a diet rich in vegetables, fish oils, rice bran oils, fiber, and soy protein all lower Apo B. Not very surprising!
Source: Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1998;18:1101-1107.