52yr old male with a very strong family history of heart disease and stroke. Every male in my family tree (except for me) has had either a heart attack or stroke by age 48. Tried eating "healthy" and exercising religiously for years, only to be saddled with a very low HDL cholesterol (<32). Started taking niacin six years ago to boost my HDL, and while still eating healthy,...
My name is Chris Hempel. In October 2007, my husband and I received life-threatening news about our cholesterol - but our lives weren't in danger. We learned that we were born with a defect in a critical cholesterol gene and that our precious six-year-old identical twin daughters, Addi and Cassi, inherited a double mutation - both genetic cholesterol defects.
For many months, I'd known...