Even if your heart looks healthy and you have no major risk factors, higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) — even when it's considered 'normal' — is linked to more hidden artery buildup. For every 10-point rise in LDL, the odds go up by about 15%.

Even if you're healthy and don't have typical heart disease risks, having higher 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) might still mean you're more likely to have early signs of artery buildup — and the higher the LDL, the greater the chance.

Even if you're middle-aged and seem healthy with normal cholesterol and no heart disease risks, almost half of people like you might already have early signs of heart disease you can't feel.

Even if you're a middle-aged adult with normal cholesterol and no obvious heart disease risks, there's almost a 50% chance you already have early signs of heart disease, like buildup in your arteries.

In healthy adults, leftover cholesterol in the blood doesn’t seem to add extra heart disease risk once you already know someone’s LDL (‘bad’) cholesterol level.

When you have too much 'bad' cholesterol (LDL) in your blood, it sticks to the walls of your arteries and builds up like gunk, making them narrow and stiff — which raises your chance of having a heart attack or stroke.