Lipoprotein(a) or Lp(a) Client Handout with Bonus Portfolio Diet Worksheet

Your client has an Lp(a) result, and no idea what it means

More labs are testing lipoprotein(a) now, because the 2026 American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology cholesterol guideline recommends every adult have it checked at least once. So clients are arriving at appointments holding a number, a unit they have never seen before, and a family history they have suddenly started worrying about. Many have already looked it up and found something frightening.

This handout is what you hand them in that appointment.

It is a three page client handout for dietitianswho want to explain an elevated Lp(a) result simply, in one sitting. A two page Portfolio Diet worksheet comes with it, so your client leaves with something to do and something to bring back.

The tricky part it handles for you

Lp(a) is mostly inherited, and food and exercise barely move the number itself. Said plainly, that can land as “there is nothing you can do,” and clients stop listening right when you need them to start.

This handout holds both halves of the message together. Your client cannot change this number. There is still a great deal they can do about their overall heart health. Both are on the page, in that order, in language a client can follow without a background in biology.

What is inside

The handout, 3 pages:

Page 1. Understanding lipoprotein(a).

Page 2. What your number means.

Page 3. Focus on these priorities. Six areas your client can actually influence

The bonus worksheet, 2 pages:

The Portfolio Diet guide. All five parts of the Portfolio Diet with daily amounts, the everyday foods that get a client there, and what each part does for cholesterol on its own. This is the page that goes to the grocery store.

My Portfolio Diet Week. A one page tracker.   It is designed to come back to the next appointment, so the follow-up has something concrete in it.

How it works in practice

• Walk through the handout together during the appointment, then send it home
• Give it as a summary of what was discussed, so nothing gets lost on the drive home
• Print it for a waiting room or a group class
• Use page 2 to record their result and revisit it at the next visit
• Send the worksheet home and ask them to bring it back, so your follow-up starts with a week of real information instead of a guess

Why this one

It uses current numbers. The thresholds and management points come from the 2026 ACC/AHA cholesterol guideline. The Portfolio Diet amounts come from the University of Toronto Portfolio Diet resource, authored by Dr David Jenkins, who developed it. Both are credited on the pages, so if a client or a colleague asks where a figure came from, you have an answer.

It answers the awkward question. Statins do not lower Lp(a). Clients usually discover this on their own, online, and it can shake their confidence in the plan they were given. Better that it comes from you, along with why the statin still matters.

It saves you the prep. No hunting for a decent explanation, no building slides, no writing your own summary after the session, and no making a tracker from scratch.

Written by a cardiac dietitian. Veronica Rouse, MAN, RD, CDE, has spent 15 years in cardiac nutrition, including cardiac rehabilitation at Canada’s largest research hospital. She wrote Easy Steps To Lower Cholesterol: The Portfolio Diet Action Plan, has published in peer-reviewed journals on dietary adherence in cardiac rehab, contributed to the patient education resources used in cardiac rehab programs.

Specifications

• 3 page handout, plus a 2 page Portfolio Diet bonus worksheet
• PDF, print ready at letter size
• Instant download, nothing to install
• Both mg/dL and nmol/L throughout, for Canadian and American labs
• Sources and review date printed on the pages