Even though athletes are super fit, their heart plaques aren’t more stable or ‘safer’ than those of healthy non-athletes—so being an elite athlete doesn’t make plaque less dangerous.

Even though elite athletes have more plaque in their hearts, the type of plaque they have is harder and less likely to rupture — which might be why they live longer than you’d expect.

Even though endurance athletes have more plaque in their heart arteries, the dangerous, rupture-prone kind is actually rarer in them than in healthy non-athletes, which might explain why they rarely have heart attacks.

People who train hard and regularly for endurance sports are less likely to have dangerous, unstable plaque in their heart arteries that could suddenly cause a heart attack.

Men who have trained for decades as elite endurance athletes, like cyclists or marathoners, tend to have more fatty deposits in their heart arteries than healthy men who exercise moderately—even when both groups are fit and have normal cholesterol and blood pressure.

Even though super-active athletes have more plaque in their heart arteries, the plaque they have is harder and less dangerous-looking than the softer, riskier kind seen in less active people.