The Story Behind Netflix’s Emotional Documentary Daughters and a Father-Daughter Dance Inside a Prison

Parenting is hard enough without any additional complications. So imagine trying to parent from prison.

A new Netflix documentary film sensitively explores this challenge by profiling a father-daughter dinner-dance that took place at a Washington, D.C. prison in 2019, enabling select inmates to spend some quality time with their young daughters. The film follows four girls—Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana—over eight years, giving viewers an extended look at not only how they prepared for the dance and interacted with their fathers there, but also how they kept up with them in the years afterward.

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Filmmaker Natalie Rae directed the movie with Angela Patton, who started the dinner dance and runs Camp Diva Leadership Academy and the nonprofit Girls For A Change, two programs that prepare Black girls for adulthood. Video of Patton’s 2012 TEDxWomen talk on the origins of the dinner-dance in Richmond—which launched that same year—have racked up about a million views on TED Talk’s website and led to the making of Daughters.

“Because a father is locked in does not mean he should be locked out of his daughter’s life,” Patton says in the viral talk. 

The directors wanted to raise awareness about how difficult it is for families to stay in touch with incarcerated loved ones. Many inmates are not allowed to have in-person visits with their family members and can only talk to them via video chat. They also said in a statement that they sought to humanize the Black men at the center of the story, who are not always afforded that treatment in the media or in their lives. One key way in which they accomplish this is by refraining from discussing the crimes that landed the featured fathers in prison, allowing the viewer to get to know them separate from their convictions.

Daughters demonstrates the strain caused by separation. One of the girls in the film, 15-year-old Raziah, complains about only getting 15 minutes at a time to talk to her father Alonzo, who is serving a 30-year sentence. The distance bred by those limitations is hard on Raziah. Her mother Sherita gets teary-eyed when she talks about the two times Raziah talked about ending her life; one time, she found her daughter on the roof of their home, ready to jump, and talked her down by telling her that killing herself wouldn’t help her dad, that he’s already suffering enough.

Santana, 10, is very forthcoming about how much her father Mark’s incarceration has affected her. She’s seen in a car rehearsing what she wants to tell him when she sees him at the dance. “I’m done shedding tears because he wants to keep doing bad stuff that he shouldn’t be doing—it’s not OK. It’s affecting me.” She adds that she never wants to have children of her own. “You could give me a million dollars, still not going to be a mother.” 

Some of the featured mothers were skeptical about the dance. In the film, Ja’Ana’s mother Unita questions whether her daughter’s incarcerated father deserves the opportunity for bonding. As she paraphrases a conversation she had with him, “Why do you want to bond with her while you’re incarcerated when all this time you had out here, you didn’t even really want to be bothered with her?”

In order to attend the dance, the participating inmates have to complete fatherhood coaching from an educator, Chad Morris. Over 10 weeks, Morris helps prepare them for what he calls an “emotional roller coaster,” from the excitement of seeing their daughters—for the first time, in some cases—to the snap back to reality at the end of the event. Patton joins one of the sessions to talk about how excited the girls are to meet their dads. As she explains the significance of the event to them, “This is about healing our families. This is about strengthening our families because we know, when our families are intact, that our community thrives.”

The dads are given haircuts, suits, shirts, ties, and shoes for the big event. Throughout the dance hall, there are craft tables and photo ops so the dads and daughters can get their photos taken and have souvenirs to remember each other by. But the gathering itself is bittersweet. As the dads and daughters dance to Beyoncé’s “Before I Let Go,” some break down in tears singing along to the lyric “I would never, never…Never let you go.” Aubrey, 5, is seen at a table telling her dad to come home sooner, and he tells her he’ll be out of prison when she’s a teenager.

Studies show that recidivism rates are high. One analysis finds that 82% of individuals released from state prisons get arrested at least once in their first 10 years free. A debrief following the dance, during a fatherhood therapy session, suggests that programs like this dance could help change that. As one inmate says in the film, “That’s the day I actually felt like I can’t come back to prison no more…because of the power I felt that day.”

source https://time.com/7010781/daughters-netflix-true-story/

4 Injured In Shooting at Virginia State University. Police Have Multiple Suspects

PETERSBURG, Va. — A shooting injured four people at Virginia State University early Wednesday, police said. Charges are pending against multiple suspects, and there was no further threat to the community, officials said.

Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the university south of Richmond around 12:30 a.m. and found four people who were shot, Chesterfield County Police said in a news release. All four were taken to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.

None of the victims or suspects are enrolled for the fall semester, according to university spokesperson Gwen Williams Dandridge. Classes start next week, but freshmen and student leaders are already on campus this week, she said.

County and university police are investigating. No officers discharged firearms, police said.

The university enrolls about 4,000 students, according to its website.

source https://time.com/7010912/4-injured-shooting-virginia-state-university-police-multiple-suspects/

Yes, Inflation Is Going Down. But Here’s Why Prices Aren’t

The annual inflation rate has cooled, new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed on Wednesday.

The July consumer-price index shows an annual inflation rate of 2.9%, slightly below expectations and the smallest increase since March 2021. The slowing inflation rate may be a welcome change for American consumers feeling the pinch from fast-rising prices over the last few years— but experts say it’s unlikely to cause a drop in grocery store prices.

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“If inflation goes down, it means that the rate at which prices increase is slowing down, but it generally is not going to mean that prices are going down,” says William Hauk, assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of South Carolina. 

High inflation has led the U.S. to face a surge in consumer prices in recent years—in 2022, the U.S. saw one of the highest rates of inflation in 40 years. Grocery stores prices are now almost 25% more expensive than pre-pandemic levels, according to CPI data. The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with global conflicts like the war in Ukraine, caused major supply chain disruptions and higher prices.

Read More: How to Buy Groceries Right Now Without Breaking the Bank 

But in recent months, inflation has shown signs of cooling. In June, the rate of inflation fell 0.1%, marking the lowest monthly growth rate since May 2020 and a two-thirds decrease from June 2022. 

Though that might not translate to lower prices, it does mean shoppers are less likely to experience sticker shock each time they visit the store. And although most consumers might be eager to see cheaper prices, economists say that lowered prices, also known as deflation, would be a bad sign for the economy—and could lead to a recession, since it typically occurs when people are spending less. “Of course, we’d like prices to be lower, but the problem is that one person’s spending is another person’s income,” says Hauk. “So if prices are generally decreasing throughout the entire economy, on average, it also probably means that people are making less money throughout the economy, on average.”

If people expect prices to go down in the future, they might hold off on purchasing big items, resulting in less money flowing through the economy. Deflation would also cause problems in the lending market, if borrowers are not making enough to pay off loans. 

Read More: Meet the Friends Buying Houses Together

That doesn’t mean that consumers have nothing to gain from disinflation. Mortgage rates tend to go down during periods of disinflation—making it easier for potential homebuyers or car owners.

And above all, consumers can expect a lot more stability. “It’s difficult to do financial planning when you’re not sure about the rate at which prices are going to be increasing in the future,” says Robert Triest, Professor of Economics at Northeastern University. Whether you’re buying a home or a carton of eggs, that’s good news.

source https://time.com/7005553/inflation-grocery-prices-rates/

Why Officials in Spain Are Investigating Katy Perry

Officials in Spain are investigating pop-star Katy Perry after she filmed a music video on the Spanish islands of Ibiza and Formentera. In the music video for her new song, “LIFETIMES,” Perry can be seen dancing against the backdrop of the Balearic Islands beaches and partying in nightclubs. 

However, some of the scenes were allegedly filmed in areas where the singer and her production company did not have authorization to film, according to a press release published by local government authorities on Tuesday. TIME has reached out to representatives of Katy Perry and the production company responsible for the video, WeOwnTheCity, for further comment. 

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A significant portion of Perry’s video takes place in S’Espalmador, an uninhabited island that contains sand dunes that the Spanish government has referred to as having “great ecological value,” the BBC reported. 

Spanish local authorities have nevertheless emphasized that Perry is not under investigation for committing a “crime against the environment,” since filming and taking photographs in the area is permitted with proper authorization. TIME has reached out to the local authorities of the island for further details. 

The investigation is the latest setback in the launch of Perry’s seventh new studio album, 143. The music video for her first single off the album, “Woman’s World,” was not received well  by critics upon its release last month. The lyrics, which appeared to be feminist on the surface, were combined with a video that many believe catered to the male gaze. 

“It’s fun, sure, but we are not subverting the male gaze here, Katy! I need you to understand this!!!” wrote Lauren Tousignant in a review of the music video for Jezebel.

Perry explained her vision for the music video in a behind-the-scenes clip shared on Instagram. Speaking from the set, she said: “We’re kind of just having fun and being a bit sarcastic with it. It’s very slapstick and very on the nose.”

source https://time.com/7010893/why-officials-in-spain-are-investigating-katy-perry-music-video/

Puerto Rico Cancels Classes, Activates National Guard as Tropical Storm Ernesto Approaches

(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — Puerto Rico activated the National Guard and canceled the start of classes in public schools as forecasters warned that the U.S. territory would be hit by Tropical Storm Ernesto, which formed in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday.

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Tropical storm warnings were in effect for Puerto Rico, Vieques, Culebra, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, St. Martin, St. Barts and St. Maarten.

The storm was located about 230 miles (370 kilometers) east-southeast of Antigua late Monday. It had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving west at 28 mph (44 kph). Ernesto is the fifth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season.

Officials in the French Caribbean said the storm was expected to drench Guadeloupe on Monday and pass near St. Barts and St. Martin. The National Hurricane Center said Ernesto is forecast to move over or near Puerto Rico and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands on Tuesday evening.

Forecasters warned the storm is expected to unleash floods and landslides.

“We cannot let our guard down,” Nino Correa, Puerto Rico’s emergency management commissioner, said at a news conference.

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said more than 340 shelters across the island would be available if necessary and that more than 200 personnel with the National Guard were activated.

Ernesto Morales, with the National Weather Service in San Juan, said between six to eight inches of rain are expected, with higher amounts in isolated areas. He also warned of hurricane-strength wind gusts as the storm is expected to hit northeast Puerto Rico and move across the U.S. territory late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

He urged people to prepare and stay alert given ongoing uncertainties over the approaching system.

“This trajectory is not written in stone and will be changing,” he said.

Officials also warned Ernesto would cause widespread power outages given the fragile state of Puerto Rico’s power grid, which crews are still rebuilding after Hurricane Maria struck the island in September 2017 as a Category 4 storm.

“That’s a reality,” said Juan Saca, president of Luma Energy, a private company that operates the transmission and distribution of power in Puerto Rico.

Power outages also were a concern in the neighboring U.S. Virgin Islands for similar reasons. Even before the storm approached, officials announced island-wide blackouts on St. John and St. Thomas.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. urged people to take the storm seriously.

“This is a practice run to make sure we’re really prepared,” he said, noting that the peak of hurricane season is yet to come.

Ernesto is expected to become a hurricane early Thursday as it turns north toward Bermuda, with some forecasters warning it could strengthen into a major Category 3 storm.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year because of record warm ocean temperatures. It forecasted 17 to 25 named storms, with four to seven major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher.

source https://time.com/7010492/tropical-storm-ernesto-puerto-rico/

Why the U.S. Military Needs to Imitate Ukraine’s Drone Force

Imagine it is 2028 and there is a coordinated parallel attack executed by Russia on one of the Baltic states and by China on Taiwan. Under such a scenario, Russia would attempt to seize NATO territory and China would blockade Taiwan as a fait accompli to undermine alliance cohesion.

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As things stand, NATO’s conventional forces would struggle to withstand such a Russian assault. And it would take weeks, if not months, to deploy American troops to the Indo-Pacific region. 

The Cold War solution to this kind of problem involved the threat of using tactical nuclear weapons. Small tactical nuclear weapons made it highly risky to mass mechanized formations for a large-scale assault, as they would become a perfect target for such nukes. They were crucial to the official NATO plan to defend against a Soviet onslaught through the so-called Fulda Gap in western Germany. 

Such an onslaught from the East is once again possible. Russia is now building up two new armies larger than the armies of half of NATO combined. Soon, armchair strategists will have to learn about the Suwalki Gap—the area around the Lithuanian-Polish border, which would be the shortest route from Belarus to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. 

Meanwhile, China is building roll-on, roll-off ferries that are nominally civilian, but have started to take part in military exercises. They are part of a sustained effort to amass the naval assets necessary for a prolonged blockade of Taiwan—and if necessary a war at sea.

But would whoever is U.S. President in 2028 be willing to meet such challenges with tactical nuclear weapons and all the associated risks of escalation to World War III? Have we no better deterrent than the old threat of Armageddon? 

The good news is that we do now.

In contrast to nearly all predictions, when Russia’s offensive was launched in February 2022, Ukraine not only thwarted the initial assault, but drove back and then held what was once considered the number two army in the world. It has stemmed the Russian tide not only through the heroism of its own troops but also by employing drones in the hundreds of thousands. 

Ukraine is the first nation to have created a new military branch, the Unmanned Systems Forces of Ukraine. This is a pivotal moment akin to the creation of the world’s first air force, the Royal Air Force, formed on April 1, 1918, seven months before Britain’s victory in World War I. Ukraine’s use of drones is transforming warfare as fundamentally as airplanes once did.

NATO forces have, in comparison, small drone arsenals in the hundreds or low thousands. But that is changing. Earlier this summer, U.S. Indo-pacific Command revealed its ”hellscape” strategy to fill the waters around Taiwan with tens of thousands of unmanned boats, submarines and drones in the event of a Chinese move against the island. 

The Replicator Initiative, announced by Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks a year ago, is intended to provide the manufacturing base that will enable hellscape. Six NATO countries recently announced their own version of hellscape to deter Russia: the European drone wall.

Unlike large standing armies, drones that are being held in reserve do not take up a lot of space, do not need to be fed, and are not drawing salaries. Unlike tactical nukes, drones do not produce fallout. But they can provide a comparable level of tactical deterrence.

An arsenal of millions of autonomous drones is a credible threat to a mechanized assault or a flotilla of ships. A state-of-the-art drone swarm could halt a Russian invasion or a Chinese blockade. Ukraine has proven this by blunting large-scale Russian mechanized attacks and crippling Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Kyiv’s expert use of drones is the reason it has been able to launch a surprise offensive deep into the Russian region of Kursk.

The implications for legacy military hardware are profound. Interestingly, the debate on tanks versus drones today echoes the one on battleships versus airplanes a century ago. Today’s drones are the equivalent of the barn-built biplanes of World War I, which barely resemble their modern jet-powered counterparts. Far more formidable unmanned munitions are coming. We are already seeing so-called “deep-strike” drones: Iranian Shahed drones used by Russia and the long-range drones built by Ukrainian startups. En masse, such drones can overwhelm even advanced air defenses. It remains to be seen if Iran and its proxies have enough such weapons to overwhelm Israel’s defenses in the coming days. If not, their recent threats will prove empty. 

A similar revolution is underway in naval warfare. As Elliot Ackerman and James Stavridis have argued, and as Ukraine has shown in the Black Sea, deep-strike drones can also be used against naval targets. Like tanks, large surface ships, including aircraft carriers, are at risk of obsolescence.

This year, for the first time in history, Ukraine and Russia are building drones on an industrial scale. The evolution is from one operator directing a single drone to one operator directing whole flocks. By the end of 2024, we shall see for the first time what we call autonomous mass—swarms of drones in the thousands being directed by a handful of operators, relying less and less on ground control. 

The shift to unmanned warfare is unstoppable. That is the lesson we have learned from Ukraine. For the United States, however, the Replicator Initiative and hellscape plan are just a start. What we need now is to build the Unmanned Systems of America. 

The alternative could be a catastrophic failure of deterrence on the watch of the next President.

source https://time.com/7010426/us-military-drone-force/

What to Do If Your High Cholesterol Is Genetic

One sunny day in Los Angeles, Katherine Wilemon was gardening when she developed crushing chest pain, as well as pain radiating down her left arm. She was 39 and fit. Wilemon—who had known since she was a teenager that she had extremely high cholesterol—was certain she was having a heart attack.

The EMTs didn’t believe her, but she was having a heart attack, caused by a complete artery blockage. The doctors at the hospital told her she had the arteries of a 70 year old. “I had what we consider to be an older person’s disease in the prime of my life,” she says.

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Up until that point, Wilemon had taken medication to lower her low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol intermittently, but her doctors didn’t take her high levels as seriously as they should have. Despite having a good diet, exercising regularly, and maintaining a healthy weight, she had “almost unbelievable” LDL levels: 385 mg/dL, when less than 100 is optimal. Still, it took nearly a year after her heart attack to be diagnosed with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), an inherited genetic condition that causes people to be born with high levels of LDL cholesterol that only get higher over time. Wilemon believes doctors should have figured out she had the disorder far earlier, but as she now knows, many fail to screen for it or even bring it up. “No one said, ‘How could this person who we don’t think fits the general phenotype of someone with heart disease have this extreme level of disease?’” she recalls. “That question wasn’t asked.”

Today, as the founder of the Family Heart Foundation, Wilemon advocates for better, earlier diagnosis of genetic forms of high cholesterol, and has dedicated her career to educating people and connecting them with specialists. “The basis of our work is understanding how poor the appreciation of this condition is within the medical system and the public at large,” she says, “and trying to rectify that.” She also serves as proof that it’s possible to live well with FH: While the road to a diagnosis can be a slog, the disorder itself is very treatable.

Here’s a look at what it means to have a genetic risk for high cholesterol—and what that diagnosis spells for future health.

What’s the big deal about high cholesterol?

Elevated cholesterol—specifically high levels of LDL—is the main driver of plaque build-up in blood vessels, which is called atherosclerosis, says Dr. Keith Ferdinand, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Tulane University School of Medicine. High cholesterol can lead to heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, and peripheral artery disease. 

People often have no idea they have high cholesterol, because on a day-to-day basis, it doesn’t cause symptoms. Enter a cardiac event, and that changes—as indicated in the very names of some of the most common events. “The reason we use the term ‘heart attack’ is because it often happens suddenly, like a lion jumping out of the bush,” Ferdinand says. “We use the term ‘stroke’ because it comes suddenly, like a stroke from heaven.”

Read More: How to Start—And Stick to—A Breathwork Practice

For the general population, LDL cholesterol is driven by lifestyle habits. Eating lots of saturated fat and being overweight, for example, raises your LDL level and lowers your “good” cholesterol, or high-density lipoprotein (HDL). “If you look at family history, if the person doesn’t have a clear genetic cause, they can easily modify their LDL by modifying their diet along with other health habits,” Ferdinand says. “That’s good news for the majority of people.”

However, it’s not the case for everyone. Lifestyle changes do little for people with genetic forms of high cholesterol. Medication is necessary.

As heart disease-related deaths trend upwards in the U.S., Ferdinand says we’re overdue for progress. “We need to do more to address lifestyle, and also to identify those people who may have genetic forms of high cholesterol so that we can intervene earlier,” he says.

Who is genetically predisposed to high cholesterol?

About 1 in every 250 people in the U.S. has familial hypercholesterolemia—which is what people are usually referring to when they say high cholesterol runs in their family. It’s caused by a genetic mutation that affects the way cholesterol is cleared by the body, prompting it to build up in and ultimately clog your arteries and veins. “LDL is what we consider the garbage of lipid metabolism,” says Dr. Seth Martin, a professor of medicine and director of the Advanced Lipid Disorders Program at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s something you want to get rid of, and fundamentally, familial hypercholesterolemia is a problem with clearing out that garbage.”

If one parent has FH, there’s a 50% chance they’ll pass it on to their children. In this version of the disorder (called heterozygous FH), kids usually have LDL cholesterol levels greater than 130 mg/dL; adults’ levels typically jump above 190 mg/dL.

Read More: What’s the Best Skin-Care Routine?

If both parents have FH, however—which is rare—there’s a 50% chance their kid will have this type, and a 25% chance they’ll have a more serious form called homozygous FH. Children with this type of the disorder typically have LDL levels over 400-500 mg/dL, while adults’ levels are greater than 300 mg/dL. It’s not unusual for people with this variation of FH to have heart attacks in their teens or 20s.

Overall, research suggests that men with untreated FH have a 30% risk of experiencing a cardiac event (like heart attack or stroke) by age 50, and untreated women have a 50% risk by age 60.

Another genetic risk factor is lipoprotein(a), which is a type of lipid that’s similar to LDL. High levels affect nearly 1 in 5 Americans, and they increase the likelihood of experiencing heart disease. You can find out what your Lp(a) is through a blood test, but historically, doctors have shied away from bringing it up, because it’s unclear how much treatment helps. Unlike with FH, “the clinical trials to show the benefit of lowering Lp(a) with medication are ongoing,” Martin says. “We’re going to find out in the next couple of years some very important clinical trial information to see if these drugs can lower the risk of cardiovascular events.”

When should cholesterol screening start?

Many people have no idea they have FH. If you find out you have it as an adult, doctors will start treatment right away and check your cholesterol levels every few months until your numbers have stabilized. Eventually, some patients only need to be tested annually.

If you suspect your child might have FH—because one or both parents have it—it’s important to have your doctor start checking their cholesterol early, between ages 2 and 6. “By the time a person is 6, their lipid profile is going to be very similar—not necessarily exactly the same—as they would have later in life,” Ferdinand says. Statin therapy typically starts at age 8, Martin says, but even before that, doctors will want to monitor the situation by running lipid tests regularly.

The same goes for children of families with a history of heart disease. If a family member had a heart attack, needed a stent, or had bypass surgery before age 55 in men, and before 65 in women, consider it a sign that something genetic might be at play and opt for early screening. If FH is not, in fact, present, kids typically don’t need to be tested again until early adulthood. In general, everyone should have their cholesterol checked by the time they’re 21, Ferdinand stresses, whether they’re worried about heart disease or not.

An underdiagnosed disorder

Unfortunately, doctors aren’t all vigilant about screening for FH. That’s part of the reason why many people don’t know they have it, experts say. The worst-case scenario, Martin says, is when it’s discovered during an autopsy, or when someone has a cardiovascular event like a heart attack in, for example, their 20s or 30s. If you have high levels of LDL cholesterol (above 190 mg/dL) that don’t improve with diet and exercise, or a family history of early heart disease and/or heart attacks, push your doctor to consider FH, he urges.

Doctors use different sets of criteria to make a diagnosis, but the steps include taking a family history, reviewing the patient’s medical history, confirming cholesterol levels, sometimes doing genetic testing, and conducting a physical exam. When Martin examines patients with FH, he can often detect signs of the disorder. “I look in their eyes, and I can see this lightish ring called corneal arcus from the cholesterol deposition,” he says. “If that’s seen before the age of 45, it’s very specific for familial hypercholesterolemia.” Martin always checks the Achilles tendon, too, where cholesterol can deposit. “It can be very thick and even sometimes, in more extreme cases, kind of bulging out,” he says, which is another indication of FH.

Read More: How to Stop Clenching Your Jaw

Sometimes, a diagnosis happens in surprising ways. About three years ago, Jennifer Johnson, 49, who lives in Naples, Fla., saw a chiropractor for pain in her neck. He decided to do an X-ray, and after looking it over, asked her: “Have you ever seen a cardiologist?” “I was freaking out,” she recalls. It turned out that the chiropractor was able to see plaque in Johnson’s carotid arteries. She was shocked, because she was young, fit, and followed a healthy diet. After making an appointment with a vascular surgeon, she learned her carotid arteries were blocked 50%. A lipid specialist then diagnosed Johnson with FH. She’s been on a statin ever since, and her LDL has dropped significantly. “I never knew that was a thing,” she says of FH. “I knew that heart disease and high cholesterol ran in my family, but when you’re relatively young, you think you’re invincible.”

How to treat FH

When a genetic condition is driving your high cholesterol, you could be doing everything right and still have markedly elevated levels. “The good news is that we have a great set of therapies,” Martin says. “It’s now very treatable.” People with FH, he adds, will likely need more than one type of treatment, like a combination of statins and newer PCSK9 inhibitors. It’s appropriate to start kids with FH on treatment at a young age, Martin adds—generally around age 8, but earlier in more severe cases.

It’s possible to “decrease cholesterol by a significant degree,” says Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan, director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at Case Western University’s School of Medicine. Many medications start working within days. “This has been a revolution for these patients—genetic hyperlipidemia can now be managed aggressively.”

Read More: Here’s What Alcohol Does to the Gut

Though lifestyle alone can’t adequately improve cholesterol levels for people with FH, “you don’t try to make an already bad situation even worse,” Rajagopalan says. Patients are generally encouraged to prioritize fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy, while avoiding processed foods, saturated fat, added sugars, salt, and alcohol.

Reasons for optimism

When Martin diagnoses people with FH, he stresses that he expects to get their LDL down to a well-controlled level. In fact, especially when there’s an early diagnosis, FH patients on treatment “are likely to have much better cholesterol than the average American,” he says. (A typical LDL in the U.S. is 110 mg/dL.) At a minimum, his patients’ LDL drops below 100, but depending how aggressive treatment is, that number could plummet to 70 or below.

That resonates with Wilemon, whose LDL cholesterol is now in the mid-20s to low 30s. “I live with less anxiety,” she says, knowing she’s lowered her risk for another heart event. “Historically, people have underestimated the role that genetics play in the onset of cardiovascular disease, especially early cardiovascular disease. It’s so feasible for people to understand their level of risk, and to do something about it today.”

source https://time.com/7009321/high-cholesterol-genetic-familial-hypercholesterolemia-what-to-do/