Revealed: The biggest myth about cardiovascular health and the REAL cause of heart attacks

One of Australia's leading cardiologists and a retired academic have set the record straight about the biggest heart health myth, while highlighting the test Aussies should pay attention to.

Dr Ross Walker - a practising cardiologist with more than 40 years' experience - runs the Sydney Heart Health Clinic, which is focused on preventative cardiology.

Dr Walker has published seven books on how to keep hearts healthy, and he told Daily Mail that most people look at the wrong tests.

'The greatest myth is that heart disease is linked to a high total cholesterol, and that if you lower that cholesterol you reduce your risk for heart disease,' he said.

'There is absolutely no evidence for that whatsoever.

'People hear about the ''good'' and ''bad'' cholesterol, HDL being good and LDL being bad, well that is absolutely nonsense.'

Dr Walker said it was more important to find out how large a person's HDL and LDL particles were, which could be done by looking at total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL.

'If the triglycerides are low and the HDL is higher than normal, that's good for you,' he said.

Dr Walker said even some doctors were not aware of this.

'Ignorant doctors will look at total cholesterol and say ''that must be lowered'' with a pill.

'That's another incredible myth, the notion that the key to good health is lowering a number in your bloodstream with a pill. It's ridiculous.'

Retired academic, Professor Bart Kay, spent decades working across 10 universities around the world, specialising in cardiovascular pathophysiology.

He told Daily Mail: 'Blaming heart disease on cholesterol is akin to turning on the TV, seeing a forest fire, seeing scenes of firemen running around then blaming the fire on the firemen.'

Professor Kay explained that when a person suffers a heart attack, caused by a blockage, cholesterol was found but wrongly blamed as the root cause.

'The clogging of the arteries is almost entirely consisting of scar tissue and clotting factors,' he said.

'This is an auto-immune dysfunction underpinned by inflammation, underpinned by endothelial cell injury.

'If you have endothelial cell injury those cells will be screaming out for raw materials to make repairs and that will include cholesterol.'

Professor Kay claimed he could easily prove that cholesterol wasn't causing blockages in arteries.

'Atherosclerotic lesions occur in the endothelial linings of your arteries, not your veins, unless you take a vein out of your venous system and you graft it into the arterial system for a bypass operation,' he said.

'That vein that then becomes an artery suddenly becomes susceptible to atherosclerosis heart disease when it wasn't when it was a vein.

'It's the same tissue but we've just moved it from the low-pressure side of the system to the high-pressure side. Both sides of the system carry the same blood that has the same cholesterol lipoprotein carriers.

'There is no way that cholesterol, of LDL cholesterol, can be the cause of heart disease. It seems that what's required is high blood pressure.'

Dr Walker agreed and pointed out that statins were the biggest selling drugs in the world.

'Blood pressure is the most important cardiovascular risk factor, especially when you get over 60. It's much more important than cholesterol,' he said.

Both recommended blood pressure be kept under 120/80 and both told Daily Mail the same thing – blockages in arteries appear at predictable points.

'The pattern of where these lesions occur is where the blood flow is turbulent. That happens at splitting points of an artery or when you've got a big curve like in the aorta,' Professor Kay said.

'It turns out that the transit time of blood under high pressure across those tissues is what's doing the physical damage that's causing the inflammation. The reaction to the inflammation is the retention of LDL so it can deliver its cholesterol payload.'

So, in a nutshell, if there's no endothelial cell damage, cholesterol (including LDL) will not accumulate in the artery wall in large amounts.

Dr Walker said the key to good cardiac health involved five things.

The first was having no addictions of any kind.

'So, anyone that smokes is ill. You can't be healthy and drink too much alcohol or snort cocaine,' Dr Walker said.

The second was sleep and Dr Walker recommended seven to eight hours of good quality sleep which was 'as good for your body as not smoking'.

The third is diet.

'One of the key aspects of nutrition is not just what you should avoid but what you should have and, tragically, only five per cent of the population have two or three pieces of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables per day,' Dr Walker said.

'Those who do have the lowest rates of heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's and it doesn't do zip to your cholesterol.

'What it does it keep your immune system healthy but damping down chronic inflammation which is one of the bases of all modern disease.'

The fourth principle was exercise, but not too much of it.

'The second-best drug on the planet is three to five hours every week of moderate excursion which should be two thirds cardo and a third resistance training,' Dr Walker said.

'Once you go beyond five hours a week you don't get any extra benefit, and you may get harm.

'And, finally, the best drug on the planet is happiness. You do those five things well, and only 10 per cent of the population does, you reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease by over 80 per cent.'

Dr Walker recommended that every male at 50 and every female at 60 get a calcium score test.

It's a measurement of the amount of calcified plaque in the arteries supplying blood to the heart.

'It measures how much muck you have in your arteries,' Dr Walker said.

'The studies show beyond a doubt that if your calcium score is below 100 you don't need a statin to lower your cholesterol.'