For decades, cholesterol has been painted as the villain of heart disease. Doctors point to your LDL number, prescribe a statin, and send you home believing the problem is solved. It’s a clean, simple story, LDL is bad, HDL is good, but it’s also dangerously incomplete.
Because here’s the reality: half of all fatal heart attacks happen in people with normal cholesterol levels. Which means the very test we’ve built our prevention strategy around is missing the mark. Lowering LDL might put out the smoke, but it doesn’t stop the fire.
That’s where Dr. Yousef Elyaman comes in. A physician with nearly two decades of experience in cardiometabolic health and functional medicine, he’s seen firsthand how cholesterol misleads both patients and doctors.
So what’s fueling the fire? Often it’s not cholesterol itself, but the hidden drivers behind it: chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, oxidative stress, and even genetics that shape how particles behave in the blood. Cholesterol is just the alarm bell, a signal that something deeper is burning.
That’s why we need to reframe how we see cholesterol. Not as the cause, but as a clue.
In this episode, we unpack the overlooked markers that reveal the real risk, and when statins may help in some cases but completely miss the point in others.
Things You’ll Learn In This Episode
-The hidden fires behind high cholesterol
Cholesterol isn’t the cause; it’s the smoke. How do inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress fuel the real fire of heart disease?
-The triglyceride trap
Most labs say 150 is “normal,” but the true target is under 80. What does that number expose about your metabolic health and fatty liver risk?
-The panels that reveal the truth
Standard cholesterol tests miss the real danger. Which simple, affordable labs give you a clear picture of heart risk most doctors overlook?
-Statins: help or harm?
They lower cholesterol, but also deplete key nutrients, and don’t work for everyone. When are statins lifesaving, and when are they just masking the real issue?