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"Changes in lipids indicate changes in your metabolism that usually occur before the clinical signs of the disease," says Professor Peter Meikle, who heads the team at the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute that works on the test.
A version of the test, measuring four lipids in the blood, is administered to patients in the United States.
The new test, on which the team has been working for several years, will use seven lipids for a more accurate reading.
A study on the test, released Friday, shows that it is 19% better than current tests to detect people who may die of a heart attack.
It was developed by measuring 342 different fats in 5991 people, then monitoring their evolution over the next eight years. Looking at who had heart attacks and who died, the team was able to determine which fats best predicted the problems.
Until now, Professor Meikle's test can only be used on people who have had a heart attack.
Photo: Justin McManus
The research was funded by the federal government, but the test itself was licensed to Zora Biosciences, a Finnish company that seeks to commercialize it.
Until now, Professor Meikle's test can only be used on people who have already had a heart attack. The next step will be to develop a test to predict heart attacks in healthy people.
"It's really exciting development. You could then act not by taking a medicine, but simply by changing your lifestyle, "he said.
Biomarker testing is a new major area of medicine. A team from the University of Melbourne, for example, is working on the use of levels of an enzyme in the blood to predict heart attacks.
But Professor Meikle does not plan to stop there. He believes that measuring fat levels in the blood can tell us a lot about health, including predicting who will develop diabetes and Alzheimer's disease.
Currently, doctors are checking your risk of heart attack by measuring your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that, if you have a lot, can clog your arteries.
But cholesterol is a crude measure, says Professor Meikle, although it is still an effective test.
In fact, hundreds of other classes of fats circulate in the blood. By measuring these fats individually, he feels that the test can be more accurate.
Professor Miekle's tests have isolated a series of bad fats, but also good ones that seem to protect against heart disease.
In particular, omega-3s seem protective, but more evidence that we should all eat several servings of fatty fish a week.
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