Greg, a 51-year old pharmaceutical representative, prided himself on his healthy lifestyle. At 5 feet 8 inches, he weighed a slender 147 lbs, not much more than he'd weighed as a champion high-school wrestler. He felt great and tackled his work and home life with enthusiasm and energy. He was also proud of his cholesterol numbers, held in check for the past 10 years since he'd worked in the pharmaceutical industry and paid closer attention to his health. His most recent panel: HDL 55 mg/dl, LDL 94 mg/dl, triglycerides 123, all excellent according to his family physician. Greg's mom and dad lived into their early 80s without an encounter with heart disease, and Greg was confident that he was free of risk.

Unexpectedly, Greg's older sister informed him that she'd developed unstable chest pain symptoms recently, requiring hospitalization. She'd undergone a heart catheterization and received two coronary stents, narrowly averting an open heart procedure. This unsettled Greg's complacency, and he now became concerned about his own health. He underwent a heart scan, which yielded a score of 1387, in the 99th percentile for men his age. This score suggested that, far from being low risk, Greg