3 Heart Experts Reveal What Really Prevents Heart Disease

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (0:00)
Why are we still seeing so many people with heart disease?

**Dr. Eric Topol** (0:03)
Yeah, it's still the number one killer around the world, not just here. And it's still the number one killer in women who, you know, they think that it's breast cancer. No, no, this is it.

**Dr. Aseem Malhotra** (0:12)
I concluded that one of the root causes, Mark, was this flawed hypothesis that we should have low-fat diets to prevent heart disease.

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (0:20)
Cardiovascular disease is an inflammatory process that it's not just about cholesterol, but there's ongoing inflammation, unfortunately.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (0:27)
Stress, loneliness, isolation, bad sleep, those things are huge in heart disease.

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (0:32)
But we know that 80% of cases of heart disease and diabetes may actually be preventable with diet and lifestyle.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (0:40)
As part of our summer series, we're remeshing some of the most important conversations we've had on the topics that matter most to our health, and fewer more important than heart disease. Heart disease remains the number one cause of death worldwide, and despite decades of research, millions of prescriptions and billions of dollars spent on treatment, many people still are confused about what actually causes it and what we can do to prevent it. For years, the conversation on heart disease has focused almost entirely on cholesterol. But what if that's only part of the story? In this compilation episode, you'll hear from Dr. Cindy Geyer of The UltraWellness Center, Dr. Eric Topol, and Dr. Aseem Malhotra as they explore a different perspective on heart disease. One that goes beyond cholesterol and looks at the deeper drivers of cardiovascular risk, including inflammation, insulin resistance, metabolic dysfunction, lifestyle, and early detection. You'll hear why many experts now believe that heart disease often begins decades before symptoms appear, why traditional testing can miss important signs and better warning signs, and how emerging science is giving us new tools to identify risk earlier than ever before. More importantly, you'll hear a message that is both factable and hopeful and that many of the factors driving heart disease are within our control, and that prevention remains one of the most powerful tools we have. So let's dive in. So let's talk about heart disease, because we think we know all about heart disease. Oh, it's cholesterol and statins are the cure, and if that doesn't work, you get a bypass and angioplasty, and if that doesn't work, you get a red transplant.
That's sort of, and then of course, there's all the normal causes. We know like diabetes and high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but diabetes is a symptom, high cholesterol is a symptom, smoking is a habit.
And yet we're kind of missing the boat, I think on a lot of the reasons we have heart disease and what we can do about it from a more systems perspective. So let's talk about just what a big deal this is and how few people actually are meeting the simple behaviors that will prevent heart disease.

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (2:41)
Yeah, again, this is another one of those conditions that the debate as well, it's in my family, so I'm doomed to get it, but we know that 80% of cases of heart disease and diabetes may actually be preventable with diet and lifestyle. And despite that really powerful message, fewer than 3% of the US population is meeting the core four basic characteristics that predict low risk. And it's a pretty low bar, Mark.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (3:04)
And what are those? What are those four things?

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (3:06)
It's not smoking, getting the minimum recommended 150 minutes of exercise a week, eating in the top two quintiles of what's considered a whole foods diet and having a healthy body fat percentage. Fewer than 3%, I still find that shocking.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (3:21)
So not too much body fat, eating pretty healthy, little exercise and don't smoke. Simple things to do, but like...

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (3:29)
We're not even there yet. 3%.
Yeah, 3%.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (3:33)
And what's really staggering is that, you know, not only do the people not meet those habits, but that there are some really other big factors that we are just so bad at in America. Our whole society is set up to actually cause heart disease.

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (3:50)
Absolutely.

**Dr. Mark Hyman** (3:51)
One of those things that really are these risk factors that besides cholesterol.

**Dr. Cindy Geyer** (3:56)
Well, of course, it's inflammation. I mean, you and I were working together back at Canyon Ranch when that pivotal study came out. I think it's been 21 years now.