Multiple Heart Disease Risk Factors, What Tests Should This Woman Get?

Dr. Scherwitz explains the tests women should get if they have multiple risk factors for heart disease.

Dr. Scherwitz:
For woman who has several risk factors for heart disease more comprehensive tests are appropriate. For example, the fibrinogen, how quickly does the blood clot? Quick clotting could block an artery if a woman has partially blocked arteries and it could cause a heart attack. She may want to look at genetic testing to see how vulnerable she is with how she metabolizes fat, apolipoprotein E, for example you can do tests for that.

She may want to look at the ratio of omega-3s to omega-6 in the bloodstream and that will tell her whether she could want to balance that with fish oil supplements.

About Dr. Scherwitz, Ph.D.:
Larry W. Scherwitz, PhD, is a leader in the field of behavioral medicine research with 25 years experience in developing and testing approaches to managing chronic disease with lifestyle changes. Dr. Scherwitz has been on the faculty of various medical institutions including Baylor College of Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, California Pacific Medical Center, and the Preventive Medicine Research Institute. He worked at the research director with Dr. Dean Ornish to demonstrate that it is possible to reverse coronary heart disease with lifestyle changes including diet, exercise, stress management and social support. Dr. Scherwitz’ is often a keynote speaker at conferences and has published his research discoveries in an array of prestigious medical journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, The Lancet, and Psychosomatic Medicine. Presently, Larry and his wife Deborah Kesten, MPH have a coaching practice to help clients lose weight as well as prevent, halt, and reverse heart disease. Larry also consults with clients to help them design studies to evaluate the efficacy of complementary and alternative practices.

Visit Dr. Scherwitz at his website