Even if middle-aged Americans seem healthy and have low heart disease risk, over 30% still have hidden plaque in their arteries — and most of them have a heart scan score of zero, meaning standard...

Even if a heart scan shows no calcium buildup, nearly 3 in 10 middle-aged people with high 'bad' cholesterol still have soft plaque in their arteries — meaning the usual heart risk test might miss early warning signs.

Even in healthy middle-aged Americans with no calcium in their heart arteries, higher 'bad' cholesterol levels are linked to more plaque buildup in the heart's blood vessels.

Middle-aged Americans who feel fine but have high 'bad' cholesterol are more likely to have hidden heart artery plaque, especially if they already show signs of artery calcification — and those with very high cholesterol have the worst kinds of plaque.

Even if you’re super fit and exercise a lot, having calcium buildup in your heart arteries still means you’re at higher risk for a heart attack or needing a stent.

Even if someone has high 'bad' cholesterol, it doesn’t seem to reliably predict how much plaque is building up in their heart arteries — some people with very high levels have clean arteries, and their risk of heart events stays low if their scan shows no calcium.