# 521: The Truth About Statins, LDL, and Heart Disease Risk That Most Cardiologists Won't Tell You with Dr. Philip Ovadia Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815/521-the-truth-about-statins-ldl-and-heart-disease-risk-that-most-cardiologists-won-t-tell-you-with-dr-philip-ovadia Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815/521-the-truth-about-statins-ldl-and-heart-disease-risk-that-most-cardiologists-won-t-tell-you-with-dr-philip-ovadia.md Podcast: [Midlife Conversations with Natalie Jill: Fat Loss, Hormones & Health for Women Over 40](https://stenobird.com/podcast/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815) Published: 2026-04-28T07:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://levelingup.libsyn.com/521-the-heart-surgeon-who-says-your-cholesterol-number-is-lying-to-you-with-drphillip-ovadia Audio file: https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/levelingup/rep_dr_philip_ovadio_MLC.mp3?dest-id=801512 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815/episodes/521-the-truth-about-statins-ldl-and-heart-disease-risk-that-most-cardiologists-won-t-tell-you-with-dr-philip-ovadia Duration seconds: 4522 ## Resource What if the cholesterol medication your doctor insists could save your life is actually increasing your risk of the very disease it's supposed to prevent? A board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon who has personally performed over 3,000 open-heart surgeries joins us this week with a message he says most cardiologists will not say out loud: the majority of his patients should never have ended up on his table. Dr. Philip Ovadia lost nearly 100 pounds while operating on other people's hearts, reversed his own prediabetes, and spent the last decade asking a question his colleagues are not comfortable with: what is actually causing heart disease? This episode goes deep. You will learn why your LDL number tells you almost nothing meaningful without particle size testing, why statins lower the wrong kind of cholesterol, and why insulin resistance is a far bigger driver of heart events than anything showing up on a standard lipid panel. Dr. Ovadia also walks through the most important heart tests most women have never had, including the coronary artery calcium scan he calls "the mammogram for your heart," and gives his take on every medication in the conversation from statins to Zetia to Repatha. If you have ever left a cardiology appointment more confused and scared than when you walked in, this one is for you. Learn More About Dr. Philip Ovadia Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/ifixhearts Website ➜ http://ifixhearts.com/ Preorder Stay Off My Kitchen Table ➜ https://stayoffmykitchentable.com/ Thank you to our show sponsors: TIMELINE: Timeline is offering 20% off your order of Mitopure! Go to https:// timeline.com/NATALIEJILL Free Gifts for being a listener of Midlife Conversations! Mastering the Midlife Midsection Guide: https://theflatbellyguide.com/ Age Optimizing and Su… ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815/episodes/521-the-truth-about-statins-ldl-and-heart-disease-risk-that-most-cardiologists-won-t-tell-you-with-dr-philip-ovadia/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/midlife-conversations-with-natalie-jill-fat-loss-hormones-health-for-women-over-40-236815/521-the-truth-about-statins-ldl-and-heart-disease-risk-that-most-cardiologists-won-t-tell-you-with-dr-philip-ovadia.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.