50% of First Heart Attacks Are Fatal — Could One Simple Test Change That?

It’s easy to assume that if your doctor says your cholesterol is “fine,” then you’re in the clear. But what if you’re being reassured by outdated numbers? And what if this outdated reassurance is putting you at risk — not just for heart disease, but potentially for cognitive decline later in life? We’re inviting you to take a second look. Not at your LDL, but at ApoB.

What is ApoB — and Why Should You Care?

ApoB (apolipoprotein B) is the protein wrapper that packages and transports cholesterol in your blood. If LDL particles are the trucks carrying cholesterol cargo, ApoB counts how many trucks are on the road — not just how much cargo they’re carrying.

And this matters. Because every single one of those trucks has the potential to crash into your artery walls, triggering inflammation and forming plaques, these plaques are the root cause of heart attacks and strokes, and — disturbingly — they start forming decades before symptoms appear.

Dr. Peter Attia, a renowned physician in preventative medicine, says it best:

“Not everyone dies from atherosclerosis, but almost everyone dies with it.”

Why Your Standard Cholesterol Test Might Be Misleading

Your standard blood panel gives you total cholesterol, HDL, LDL — maybe triglycerides. But it doesn’t tell you the particle count. That’s like measuring the total weight of delivery trucks without knowing how many are on the highway.

This is where ApoB comes in — it gives you a far clearer, more predictive number for cardiovascular risk than LDL-C alone. In fact, according to Attia and experts like Dr. Allan Sniderman, ApoB is the single best biomarker to predict future cardiovascular disease. Yet it’s rarely tested.

The Brain-Heart Link: Are We Treating the Wrong Problem?

Here’s a shocking question: Could we be prescribing medication based on incomplete data — and in doing so, increasing the risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s?

Some cholesterol-lowering medications have been associated with cognitive decline, especially when prescribed in people who may not need them. If your treatment plan is based on LDL alone, and your actual ApoB count shows no high-risk, you may be taking medications unnecessarily — with potential long-term consequences.

Prevention Starts Decades Before Symptoms

Peter Attia’s research highlights this chilling statistic: Up to 50% of first heart attacks are fatal — and they often happen before age 65. That means we can’t afford to wait until there’s a problem. Prevention has to start long before symptoms show up. ApoB gives us the tools to do that. Imagine this: You’re 40 years old. Your LDL-C looks “normal.” But your ApoB is elevated. That’s your early warning system — a chance to change your future.

1. Ask your doctor for an ApoB test.
Don’t accept “your cholesterol is fine” as the end of the conversation.

Final Thought
ApoB isn’t new. It’s just ignored.And in Peter Attia’s words, if we started testing and treating early, “we could eliminate deaths from atherosclerosis.”