As a cardiovascular health naturopath in London, I use advanced testing to give you a more accurate picture of risk than standard cholesterol numbers allow.
A cardiovascular diagnosis, or a strong family history, tends to bring a specific kind of fear, the sense of a clock ticking somewhere you can’t see. Watching a parent decline from the same condition you now carry risk for is its own particular weight. Wanting real answers rather than a generic risk score isn’t anxiety, it’s wanting some actual control over something that currently feels entirely out of your hands.
If you’re managing cardiovascular disease, or have a family history of it, I can help you understand your actual cardiovascular health risk more precisely than standard testing usually allows, and build a plan that supports your medical treatment rather than working against it.
What the evidence actually points to
Standard cholesterol testing misses real risk information
Advanced markers worth testing
Total and LDL cholesterol alone correlate imperfectly with actual cardiovascular risk. A fuller picture comes from markers that aren’t part of a routine GP panel, markers that are routinely tested at Anthrobotanica.
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is a genetically determined, independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It doesn’t respond to diet or lifestyle the way LDL does, which is exactly why it’s worth knowing, it identifies risk that generic advice won’t touch.
ApoB and ApoA1 count the actual number of atherogenic and protective particles in your blood, rather than estimating cholesterol content indirectly. ApoB in particular is increasingly recognised in cardiology guidelines as a better risk measure than LDL-C, and it’s still not routinely tested.
Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is a vascular-specific inflammatory marker, produced within atherosclerotic plaque itself rather than reflecting inflammation generally. It’s been shown across multiple large cohort studies to predict cardiovascular events independently of traditional risk factors, and is particularly useful for people sitting at borderline risk on standard calculators.
Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is released by white blood cells at sites of plaque instability, and elevated levels are linked to higher risk of plaque rupture rather than just plaque presence. It’s a marker of how unstable your existing disease is.
BNP (B-type natriuretic peptide) is released when the heart is under volume or pressure strain, and is mainly used to detect early heart failure or post-cardiac-event risk, not atherosclerotic burden. It’s always worth checking whether the heart itself is under strain.
Carotid and femoral artery scanning
Beyond blood markers, I recommend carotid and femoral artery ultrasound scanning for anyone past a certain age, looking specifically for plaque, not just artery wall thickness, which is an older method now considered a weak predictor on its own. Actual plaque in the femoral arteries has been shown to predict coronary artery disease and coronary calcium scores even more strongly than carotid plaque, and looking at both together gives a better picture than either alone. This is one of the few ways to see subclinical atherosclerosis directly, rather than inferring it from risk calculators and blood markers.
Where I see people get this wrong
The most serious mistake, seen across this field generally, is that the goal is to completely come off cardiovascular medications as some sort of measure of success when the goal should be focused on reducing risk factors and improving quality of life. Statins and diuretics carry their own nutrient considerations. Statins work through the same pathway the body uses to produce CoQ10, so levels commonly drop during treatment, relevant given CoQ10’s role in cellular energy production in heart and muscle tissue. Diuretics deplete magnesium and potassium, with real cardiac and metabolic consequences if left unaddressed. These are just a few examples of nutrient depletions that we can assess and address through nurtient repletion.
The second is treating standard cholesterol numbers as the full picture, when advanced testing and direct plaque imaging often tell a different, more useful story.
How I work with cardiovascular health
I use advanced lipid, inflammatory and genetic testing, alongside carotid and femoral plaque scanning where appropriate, to build an accurate picture of your risk, then work with nutrition, herbal medicine and lifestyle changes to support your cardiovascular health
If this sounds like where you are, apply for a 15 minute consultation, in person or online, and let’s work out the best way forward.oking form to arrange for an initial 15-minute consultation to determine the best way forward.
