Robert Brown is 81, but he has the heart of a 68-year-old.

So do I. But I'm a mere whippersnapper of 60.

Joey Ivansco / AJC (ENLARGE)

AJC reporter Bill Hendrick prepares to have a CT scan of his heart at The Emory Clinic. Hospitals like Emory are now marketing such programs to attract customers.

Joey Ivansco / AJC (ENLARGE)

CT scan results for AJC reporter Bill Hendrick tell the tale of his heart health. The pink area in the center of the photo shows calcium in his arteries.

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He never smoked. I did for half my life. Maybe that's the difference. Or, maybe, it's the fact he weighs what he did in high school, 145 pounds. That's what I weighed, too, on high school graduation day in 1966. But now I'm up to 200.

He has a beer a day. I have a couple of glasses a day of cabernet sauvignon.

His calcium score, determined by a CT scan at Emory Healthcare, is 102.3. Mine is 103.7. Both fall in the moderate to low plaque burden scoring area. Not bad for a guy his age. But really bad for me.

His blood pressure was 138/66. Mine was a whopping 148/87.

His had a low artery calcium score for cardiovascular risk. Mine was moderate.

He walks two miles every day. So do I. He works out. So do I.

So why the big difference?

Did his combat service in the Navy in World War II make him able to cope with the world a little better? Or is he able to chill out when he's flying his plane, while I'm down in the Atlanta-to-Chattanooga bumper-to-bumper mess on I-75?

Dr. Arthur Stillman, one of the Emory physicians who analyzed Brown's findings as well as mine, basically said what I've known for years.

I was stupid to smoke cigarettes — not cool.

And maybe a couple of glasses of wine a night really is one too many.

Just like my wife says.

On the other hand, maybe she's the one who's wrong. Just maybe.

"It is my clear impression — and there is good literature to support it — that a glass of wine a day does reduce cardiovascular events," says Dr. Paolo Raggi, a professor of both medicine-cardiology and radiology at Emory and one of the physicians who analyzed my results.

"The problem is that many people take this as a license to drink and do so excessively," he says. "A small amount is just fine — not vodka or Scotch, just wine," Raggi says. "For those who do not like alcohol, even grape juice has been shown to be helpful in reducing heart attacks. The issue is that grape juice gives a lot of calories and must be drunk in small quantities."

In any case, Raggi says, CT scans shouldn't be taken by people who don't have reason to worry about their hearts, such as young folks, non-smokers and people without risk factors.

He told me that my CT results shouldn't scare me, but that I should see the numbers as a call to action.

I do. More time on the treadmill. More racquetball.

"Plaque is not going to go away," Raggi said. "Limiting further progression will be a great advantage, and what we're doing here is aimed at prevention."

One of the bad things about plaques is "they rupture, and that causes heart attack," Stillman said.

But much about the heart still isn't known.

It's thought by some that running marathons can damage the organ, he said.

No worry for me, there.