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The Peter Attia Drive

#129 - Tom Dayspring, M.D.: The latest insights into cardiovascular disease and lipidology

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.7 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2020

⏱️ 120 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

World-renowned lipidologist Tom Dayspring returns to give an update on the current thinking in lipidology as a follow-up to his 2018 five-part podcast series. In this episode, Tom discusses the growing consensus that atherogenic lipoproteins are essential drivers of atherosclerotic vascular disease. Tom further emphasizes apolipoprotein B (apoB) and lipoprotein(a) (Lp(a)). He provides insights into risk assessment, including which lab metrics to use, how to interpret them, and the appropriate therapeutic targets. Additionally, Tom discusses the most recent developments in lipid-lowering drug therapies—from the continued evolution of PCSK9 inhibitors, to the latest understanding of EPA and DHA, and the most recent addition of bempedoic acid to the list of therapeutic agents.

We discuss:

  • The latest in the field of lipidology and cardiovascular disease [3:45];
  • Apolipoproteins—the key to understanding lipid biology [9:30];
  • ApoB as a preferred metric over LDL-P [16:30];
  • Therapeutic goals for apoB concentration [21:45];
  • Drivers of atherosclerosis [34:15];
  • Overview and current thinking on high density lipoproteins (HDLs)—Is it a useful metric? [37:00];
  • Lipoprotein(a)—the most dangerous particle you’ve never heard of [55:00];
  • Are low density lipoprotein triglycerides (LDL-TGs) a useful metric? [1:13:15];
  • Tom’s preferred lab measurements [1:17:45];
  • The latest in lipid-lowering therapies [1:21:30];
  • The different pathways among various lipid-lowering drugs [1:30:45];
  • The latest on EPA and DHA [1:38:15];
  • Fibrates—an underappreciated treatment for hypercholesterolemia [1:49:45] and;
  • More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive Podcast.

0:13.0

I'm your host, Peter Atia.

0:14.8

This podcast, my website, and my weekly newsletter, all focus on the goal of translating

0:18.7

the science of longevity into something accessible for everyone.

0:22.4

Our goal is to provide the best content in health and wellness, full stop, and we've

0:26.6

assembled a great team of analysts to make this happen.

0:29.4

If you enjoy this podcast, we've created a membership program that brings you far more

0:33.2

in-depth content if you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level.

0:37.2

At the end of this episode, I'll explain what those benefits are, or if you want to learn

0:41.0

more now, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash subscribe.

0:46.2

Now, without further delay, here's today's episode.

0:49.0

I guess this week is Dr. Tom Despray.

0:53.3

This name is probably familiar to some of you because back in October of 2018, we released

0:57.9

a five-part series with Tom, and that set of episodes, despite being quite technical,

1:03.8

or some of the most popular episodes we've released, especially amongst people who really

1:08.1

like to get serious about their understanding of cardiovascular disease.

1:11.2

So, we wanted to have Tom back, basically, to pick it up where we left off.

1:15.8

And in this episode, we try to focus on things that have changed in the last couple of

1:20.8

years, and that kind of loosely fell into three categories that we probe.

1:26.0

The first is digging really deeper into the recognition of the importance of astrogenic

1:31.3

lipoprotein.

1:32.3

So, kind of revisiting the idea of what apob is, why it matters.

...

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