A new report says sky-high levels of a nasty blood fat called Lp(a) — short for lipoprotein (a) — double your risk for severe heart valve damage, boosting odds that you’ll need a replacement valve sometime between age 60 and 90. Lp(a) stiffens and clogs the walls of valves and arteries, and the threat (and consequent need for surgery to repair it or install a new valve) is not rare.

Baby boomers and their older friends and relatives are dealing with the problem. (A quarter of adults 70-plus already have signs of heart valve thickening; more than half of the more than 5,000 open-heart procedures at the Cleveland Clinic now involve valve repair or replacement.) Fortunately, there’s plenty you can do NOW to safeguard your valves.