Blood tests that predict heart attack risk
The AHA's flagship risk equation never looks at your LDL. Here are the six tests that actually move the number, and the statistic behind each one.
• Brandon Ballinger
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Do modern LDL formulas replace ApoB?
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to lower inflammation through diet and medication
• Brandon Ballinger
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Statins lower inflammation by 37%
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CAC score was zero, but plaque doubled.
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Insurance coverage of PCSK9 inhibitors
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Nutrition is multidimensional
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The biomarkers to watch when you're on a GLP-1
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Does dietary cholesterol raise blood cholesterol?
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Eggs are now officially healthy
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To lower blood pressure, focus on sodium and potassium
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Blood cholesterol is driven by saturated fat and fiber
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Medicare covers GLP-1s for $50/month starting in July
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How to track saturated fat and fiber with an app
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Objective metrics that change the most as we age
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Retatrutide's phase 3 results: 30% weight loss in 2 years
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99% of heart attacks are preceeded by these risk factors
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Vitamin D2 vs D3: why the form on the bottle matters
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Vitamin D acts more like a hormone than a vitamin
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How to improve your VO2Max: an evidence-based guide
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How to Get Function Health at a lower cost
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Sleep polysomnography predicts 130 health conditions, including cardiovascular disease
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The effect of sleep on blood biomarkers
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Every statin ranked by effect size
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The Fick equation and your heart
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A Cal AI alternative for iPhone and Android
• Brandon Ballinger
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Medications can now lower cholesterol (ApoB) by 80%
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Does Medicare cover Lp(a) testing?
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Four Lp(a)-lowering drugs in trials reduce levels by up to 94%.
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Blood pressure may swing 20+ mmHg in a single day
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How different wearables measure HRV: SDNN vs RMSSD
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Every formula to measure HRV
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Lp(a) testing is up 22x in the last decade. It's now recommended for everyone.
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to find potassium-rich foods for blood pressure
• Brandon Ballinger
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Partnering with Beacon Health to help Medicare patients with heart disease
• Brandon Ballinger
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What cardiovascular medications does Medicare cover?
• Brandon Ballinger
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Normal cholesterol levels (2026 guidelines)
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2026 cholesterol guidelines recommend earlier treatment
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Autopilots vs. copilots in vertical AI
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Blood tests for heart health
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Three main saturated fats raise your cholesterol
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Why more young adults are dying of heart attacks
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Empirical Health for Web: Now Available on Desktop
• Wyatt Chang
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The government wants AI doctors
• Brandon Ballinger
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Bryan Johnson's Immortals program costs $1m. How to DIY 90% of the value for <1% of the price.
• Brandon Ballinger
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Do rich people live longer?
• Brandon Ballinger
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Men's heart risk rises by age 35, 7 years earlier than women
• Brandon Ballinger
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Vitamin D cuts heart attack risk by 52%. Why?
• Brandon Ballinger
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Direct-to-consumer advanced lipid panel with ApoB, Lp(a), and hs-CRP
• Brandon Ballinger
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AI beyond LLMs: a wearable foundation model based on JEPA.
• Brandon Ballinger
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Instead of Giving Stuff, Give Years
• Brandon Ballinger
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The best biomarkers for heart health
• Brandon Ballinger
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How fiber reduces overall mortality by 23%
• Brandon Ballinger
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Peter Attia on 60 Minutes: Medicine 3.0 and the marginal decade
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The four horsemen from Peter Attia's Outlive
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How to use AI to calculate nutrition facts
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Apple Watch hypertension alerts explained
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ApoB is not usually covered by Medicare or insurance, but can be cheap.
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The biomarkers recommended by Peter Attia in Outlive
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Inflammation now predicts heart disease better than LDL
• Brandon Ballinger
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Simulating Reductions in Lifetime Heart Attack Risk
• Brandon Ballinger
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How Apple Watch's new blood pressure monitor works
• Brandon Ballinger
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Why choose Empirical for 100+ biomarkers
• Brandon Ballinger
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Why ApoB is more accurate than LDL cholesterol
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to Get a Sleep Score on Your Apple Watch
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The effect of noise on sleep
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ApoB vs Lp(a) blood tests for heart health
• Brandon Ballinger
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Data-driven nutrition: how to go beyond generic diet advice
• Wyatt Chang and Brandon Ballinger
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How to lower your ApoB naturally and with medication
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to Lower Your Cholesterol in 7 Days
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Function Health alternative in NY & NJ
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Function Health Alternatives
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Don't die of heart disease
• Brandon Ballinger
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Lp(a): the strongest hereditary risk factor for heart disease
• Brandon Ballinger
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Apple Watch's calorie counts can be accurate within 18-40%—if you follow these steps.
• Brandon Ballinger
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Cutting ApoB by 10 mg/dL drops heart disease risk by 9%
• Harish Kilaru
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Apple Watch can't predict a heart attack—these blood tests can
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How to calculate your heart attack risk with <$200 of blood tests
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Am I Healthy? How to design a comprehensive health score
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Apple Watch's heart rate monitor is accurate to 5bpm 89-98% of the time
• Brandon Ballinger
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Apple Watch uses three different algorithms for heart rate
• Brandon Ballinger
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Empirical Health Radar: One number, infinite insights.
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP and Harish Kilaru
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Your guide to Apple Watch's heart rate monitor
• Brandon Ballinger
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Empirical Health launches today on Android, WearOS, and Fitbit
• Wyatt Chang and Brandon Ballinger
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Which health metrics are available on Samsung, Pixel, Apple Watch, and Fitbit?
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to Do a "Poor Man's Tilt Table Test" on Your Apple Watch
• James Russo
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How Apple Watch's VO2Max algorithm works: physiological ODEs and deep neural networks.
• Brandon Ballinger
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Breathing Disturbances on Apple Watch: What should I do if I get a “possible sleep apnea” alert from my Apple Watch?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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How Apple Watch estimates VO2Max to 1.2 ml/kg/min without a treadmill test
• Brandon Ballinger
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The average Apple Watch user gets 49 minutes of deep sleep per night
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to track your mental health with PHQ-9 and GAD-7
• James Russo and Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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How Apple Watch detects 89% of severe sleep apnea
• Brandon Ballinger
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Summarize all your Apple Watch vitals into a health report
• Wyatt Chang
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Empirical 2.0: your AI healthcare assistant
• Brandon Ballinger and Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Cardiovascular metrics predict sleep apnea risk
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to correlate your Apple Watch health metrics with symptoms
• Brandon Ballinger
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How to do the CHOP protocol for POTS on your Apple Watch
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Empirical Health is launching to 47 million midwesterners
• Brandon Ballinger
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Can my Apple Watch tell me if I have afib?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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The CHOP protocol and the science behind it
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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The best Apple Watch for heart monitoring (2026)
• Brandon Ballinger
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The connection between long COVID and POTS
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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What are some of the most common POTS triggers?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Do I need a tilt table test to confirm a POTS diagnosis?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Is the Apple Watch's oxygen sensor accurate?
• Brandon Ballinger
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Sleep apnea and the link to cardiovascular health: what you need to know
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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How far is 10,000 steps?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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My Apple Watch says I have low blood oxygen while sleeping.
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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What are the steps to get a POTS diagnosis?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Why is it so hard to find a primary care doctor near me?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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Empirical Health: proactive primary care that scales
• Brandon Ballinger
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What is HRV and what does it have to do with health?
• Raquel Rodriguez Martinez, MD, MPP
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How to show sleep stages on your Apple Watch face
• Brandon Ballinger
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Want better sleep quality? The top 3 factors, according to Apple Watch data
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Is my data normal? Introducing Empirical Checkups
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Empirical Sleep for watchOS 9
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Apple Watch's new temperature sensor
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Empirical Sleep for Apple Watch
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