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What is Heart & Metabolic Age?

Heart & Metabolic Age is a simplified, age-like estimate of your cardiometabolic health, based on two powerful signals from your bloodwork:

  1. Atherogenic particle burden (how many “plaque-forming” cholesterol particles you carry)
  2. Insulin sensitivity (how efficiently your body handles energy and blood fats)

It’s designed to be easy to understand, easy to track over time, and tightly focused on the health domains that drive long-term cardiovascular and metabolic risk.

The Heart & Metabolic Phenotype

To give a clearer picture than a single number alone, we first place you into a 2×2 phenotype map based on two inputs:

1) Lipid Metabolism (ApoB)

ApoB reflects the number of atherogenic (“plaque-building”) particles in your blood (including LDL and other ApoB-containing particles). In general:

  • Lower ApoB = fewer atherogenic particles
  • Higher ApoB = more atherogenic particles

2) Insulin Sensitivity (Triglycerides/HDL-C Ratio)

The Triglycerides-to-HDL-C ratio (Trig/HDL-C) captures two hallmarks of reduced insulin sensitivity: higher triglycerides and lower HDL-C. A lower ratio suggests better metabolic efficiency.

In general:

  • Lower Trig/HDL-C = better insulin sensitivity signal
  • Higher Trig/HDL-C = more insulin-resistance–associated pattern

What the 4 phenotypes mean

Your position on the map reflects one of four patterns:

  • Optimal: Both ApoB and insulin sensitivity look favorable
  • Lipid regulated, insulin resistant: ApoB looks favorable, but the Trig/HDL-C pattern suggests reduced insulin sensitivity
  • Lipid dysregulated, insulin sensitive: insulin sensitivity looks favorable, but ApoB suggests elevated atherogenic particle burden
  • Lipid dysregulated, insulin resistant: both signals suggest higher heart and metabolic risk

This map helps you understand whether your focus should be on lipids, metabolic health, or both.

How Heart & Metabolic Age is Calculated

After placing you on the 2×2 phenotype map, we translate your ApoB and Trig/HDL-C pattern into a single Heart & Metabolic score, then translate that score into an age-like number relative to your chronological age.

Younger Heart & Metabolic Age reflects a more favorable cardiometabolic profile—your markers look like those typically seen in lower-risk, younger individuals.

Older Heart & Metabolic Age suggests more room for improvement in the factors that drive cardiovascular and metabolic risk.

How to Interpret Your Heart & Metabolic Age

  • Lower than your chronological age: Your ApoB and insulin-sensitivity pattern look more like what’s typical in lower-risk, younger cardiometabolic profiles.
  • Higher than your chronological age: Your markers look more like patterns commonly associated with higher cardiometabolic risk, which can be a useful prompt to focus on improvements.
  • Close to your chronological age: Your profile is broadly similar to others in your age range.

Just like with any health score, the most useful insight often comes from trends over time, especially if your collection conditions are consistent.

Why This Matters

Cardiometabolic health isn’t just one factor among many, it’s foundational. Atherosclerosis and insulin resistance are among the strongest predictors of long-term disease risk, and both are influenced by modifiable factors like diet, exercise, sleep, and stress.

Heart & Metabolic Age distills these complex dynamics into a single, trackable number. Instead of interpreting multiple markers in isolation, you get a clear summary of where you stand and whether you’re trending in the right direction.

Important Notes and Limitations

  • This is not a diagnosis and does not replace medical care.
  • Triglycerides (and therefore Trig/HDL-C) can shift with recent meals, alcohol, illness, sleep disruption, and recent intense exercise. For the cleanest comparisons, test under similar conditions each time.
  • Medications and supplements (especially lipid- and glucose-related therapies) can meaningfully change these markers—often in a positive direction. This is expected and reflects real improvement.