Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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 As an editorial in the prestigious British medical journal, Lancet, concludes—with typically English humor: "Stents clearly have a great future—they give excellent predictive results in angiography, are clinically safe, and most of all, calm the interventional cardiologist."21
"Finally, something I can agree with," proclaimed Fran. "Were I the patient, I would most assuredly want a calm cardiologist!"
Alas, where in these procedures is the fierce warrior? A small incision in the groin is hardly heroic surgery! |
Dr. Steven R. Gundry
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 After inserting a balloon and stent to open the clogged coronary artery, the local cardiologist delivered the bad news: five other blood vessels were severely blocked.
After Jed had recovered, I performed the quintuple bypass and didn't like what I saw. Plaque coated every blood vessel. After the procedure, my associates and I started him on Plavix to keep his blood vessels open, and his cardiologist prescribed a statin to lower his LDL ("bad") cholesterol. I also explained my diet program. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
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 The neurologist called the cardiologist to discuss this idea with him. The cardiologist dismissed his concerns. So the woman's husband took over the management of his wife's illness. He prescribed an anticonvulsant (a medicine that interferes with seizures), and her bouts of sinus tachycardia stopped cold. He then sent her for brain imaging and was aghast to learn that she had a large brain tumor. This brain tumor produced seizures—not the spasmodic twitching usually recognized as a convulsion, but episodes of sinus tachycardia.
There were two terrible things about this case. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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| Once again, the cardiologist eschews evidence-based medicine. Finally, the facilities exist for prompt and aggressive surgery, therefore it can and will happen.
"That last point is like saying: 'If you build it, they will come,'" I concluded.
As an editorial in the prestigious British medical journal, Lancet, concludes—with typically English humor: "Stents clearly have a great future—they give excellent predictive results in angiography, are clinically safe, and most of all, calm the interventional cardiologist."21
"Finally, something I can agree with," proclaimed Fran. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
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| Her husband called the cardiologist and explained her level of distress to him. The cardiologist advanced her up the referral ladder and sent her to a more specialized specialist—an arrhythmologist, a subspecialist who only sees patients who have bouts of arrhythmia, or abnormal cardiac rhythm. This doctor agreed that the patient's bouts of rapid heartbeats were arrhythmias, but he suggested that they were unrelated to any abnormality in the heart. |
Anne Harrington
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 Harvard Medical School cardiologist Herbert Benson, however, took a different view. In the late 1960s, Benson was one of the small but growing number of cardiologists who had come to believe that stress played an important part in heart disease. As he explained to a journalist in 1975, "many of the problems that heart doctors encounter [such as dangerously elevated blood pressure] have been created by daily stresses and tensions—the cost, so to speak, of living at an often hectic pace in a highly complex society."24
Could anything be done about this? Benson tried to find out. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
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| Her husband called the cardiologist and explained her level of distress to him. The cardiologist advanced her up the referral ladder and sent her to a more specialized specialist—an arrhythmologist, a subspecialist who only sees patients who have bouts of arrhythmia, or abnormal cardiac rhythm. This doctor agreed that the patient's bouts of rapid heartbeats were arrhythmias, but he suggested that they were unrelated to any abnormality in the heart. |
| When the results of this test were normal, the cardiologist performed echocardiography, a test that looks inside the heart to evaluate its vvucii IU OCCK d JCLU11U wpilllUll UilU VV11C11 IU OCC d OJJCLldllSL function. These test results also were normal. Next, the cardiologist tested the patient with a Holter monitor, a beeper-sized machine that records the heart's electrical activity or electrocardiogram for an entire day. While the patient was connected to the monitor, she pushed a button every time she experienced heart palpitations. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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| In this thinking, the cardiologist has cast aside scientific medicine and medical ethics, and has become an unlikely pawn of the patient. Ultimately, as we have claimed previously, such explanations improperly blame the patient for the doctor's inadequacies. Second, cardiologists simply do not believe the results of statistical studies. What they see from their own patients is what forms their conclusions. Moreover, stenting does relieve symptoms. Ergo, it works. Ergo, we might say, the doctor eschews systematic data for individual and uncontrolled (and perhaps self-serving) observation. |
Ray D. Strand
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 Thyroid medication was started but, needless to say, Emma remained very ill. Her cardiologist did not give her much hope and, because of her age, she was definitely not a candidate for a heart transplant.
The traditional treatment Emma received only made her much worse.
In desperation she came to see me because she heard about how I was able to help others with similar problems. After evaluating my new patient, I could see she was having a significant reaction to the Cardarone. She wanted to quit taking the drug, and I agreed with her. |
Benjamin H. Natelson, M.D.
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| In his letter to the referring cardiologist, he noted that the woman was thin and that her thin chest wall may have made her more aware of her heart beating than would be the case in a heavier-set woman. He didn't say so, but his unwritten diagnosis was that the problem was "all in her head." For an arrhythmia to count for this classically trained subspecialist in cardiology, it had to stem from heart disease. That position made this woman fall through the cracks of classical medicine.
So she was left to her own devices. Fortunately, her husband happened to be a neurologist. |
Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
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 Pamela Douglas, a Duke University cardiologist recently said, "In the process of curing their breast cancer, we've exposed them to some pretty nasty things. And it's not just one nasty thing, it's a sequence of nasty things." Those nasty things, it turns out, cause permanent damage to the heart, kidney, liver and brain.
But they're really great for the bottom-line profits of pharmaceutical corporations. |
Joan Liebmann-Smith, Ph. D., and Jacqueline Nardi Egan
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 These include mitral valve prolapse (a very common and usually not too serious heart valve deformity) and arrhythmias,
-Douglaszipes,MD,cardiologist, to0 fast> its referred to as tachy-indiana University School of Medicine cardia; when it beats too slow, it's
If you feel an extra beat, it can be a sign of premature atrial contractions (PACs), the most common and benign type of arrhythmia. On the other hand, if you feel like your heart occasionally skips a beat, it may be a sign of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs). |
Connie Bennett, C.H.H.C. with Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
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 As a cardiologist, I treat a lot of diabetics. That's right. I am a heart specialist, yet I help a lot of patients with a disease that involves high blood sugar. Sounds strange, doesn't it?
Even more curious—many of my heart patients don't even know they have insulin resistance or diabetes before I diagnose them. Many of these patients come to me with a big belly, low levels of HDL (the "good" cholesterol), high triglycerides, and high blood pressure. We now call this scenario metabolic syndrome. |
| As a board-certified cardiologist, certified nutrition specialist, and antiaging specialist, I can tell you this: there are far more significant and devastating causes of coronary artery disease than cholesterol, and too much sugar and high blood sugar levels are at the top of the list.
It's unfortunate that Americans, who are, at least by and large, somewhat savvy about cholesterol's dangers, are almost completely ignorant about the many perils of eating too much sugar. |
| Once I'd begun practicing as a cardiologist, I realized how inappropriate my mother's dietary recommendations had been. For years she had eaten poorly, yet she was simply following standard teachings of the day!
In fact, you'll learn here, in this book, about the considerable research that flat-out refutes this advice.
My Hypoglycemic High School Moments and My Sugar Sensitivity
While watching my mother sink further and further into her disease, I also unknowingly had my own strange sugar experiences. |
| At the 2005 American College for Advancement in Medicine (ACAM), I attended a lecture by a prominent cardiologist, Dr. Thomas Levy, who theorized that when people took these medications to lower their cholesterol, their bodies' normal protective mechanism against heavy metal toxicity was diminished and they got depressed, hostile, and angry—hence the increase in homicides and suicides. They also lost their agility and ability to react in technical situations—hence more car accidents.
That is not to say that lowering cholesterol does not have advantages for some. |
| In addition, Miami cardiologist Arthur Agatston, M.D., author of the best-selling The South Beach Diet, helped raise awareness of the important differences between "good" carbs and "bad" carbs. Although many view the South Beach Diet as low carb, Dr. Agatston disavows that label. "We are not low carb. We are good carb," he insists.
"Low Carb" Is a Misleading Term
At the end of the day, advocates of low-carb dieting and maintaining insist that the term "low carb" is inappropriate and misleading.
"Low carb doesn't mean you're mainlining lard and eating pork rinds all day. |
| Moreover, in fall 2005,1 was thrilled and fortunate to find the esteemed, pioneering cardiologist, antiaging specialist, and nutritionist Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C., C.N.S., who came on board as the SUGAR SHOCK! medical consultant. Wow! Stephen, joining forces with you has given this book "angel wings," as a friend puts it. Your support and encouragement has been invaluable. It's also quite gratifying to know that you're one of a rapidly growing number of doctors who really understand the dangers of sweets and refined carbs. |
Bottom Line Health
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| James Jollis, a cardiologist at Duke University Medical Center, collected data on 127,959 Medicare patients who were hospitalized for heart attacks between January 1994 and February 1996.
The researchers found that, while treatment was essentially the same for all of the patients, 21.7% of those admitted to the hospital in December died, compared with 20.1% of those admitted to hospitals in other months. |
Ray D. Strand
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| The cardiologist continued, "The most critical doctor was Jim. In the doctors' lounge he would trash this radio guy up one side and down the next. This continued over the next few months until one day Jim's partner confronted him. 'Jim, if you feel this strongly about the subject, why do you take nutritional supplements?'
"'Well,' Jim replied, just in case I am wrong.'"
Wayne did not go on disability and is back to working full time. His first visit to my office occurred more than four years ago. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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| I think it is ingrained in the American psyche," said one cardiologist, "that the worth of medical care is directly related to how aggressive it is. Americans want a full-court press," he concluded, blaming the patient for the physician's unscientific judgment. Instead of stenting and cabbages, we would be better off with "boring old advice"; give up smoking, and get blood pressure and cholesterol levels down. |
Ray D. Strand
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| The only other option the cardiologist had to offer was the possibility of sending Wayne to Abbott Northwestern in Minneapolis, where he could be put on a heart-transplant list.
You can imagine how difficult it was for me to discuss this with my patient, my friend. I also had to inform Wayne's parents, two people I had grown to love and admire, that their son's life was in serious jeopardy. To make matters more painful still, they had recently lost a younger son to lung cancer. It seemed like I was a messenger of hopelessness. |
| If you were to spend a day following a cardiologist or cardiovascular surgeon around the hospital, you would soon realize he has to spend the majority of his time "putting out fires." He typically treats patients who are at the end of the inflammatory process, with his entire focus on attempting heroically to save a life. Not much time is left to teach patients about the lifestyle changes necessary to slow down or even hopefully reverse this devastating disease and prevent the need for his services in the future. |
| Peter Langsjoen, a cardiologist and biochemist practicing in Tyler, Texas. Dr. Langsjoen had been able to significandy improve the health of his cardiomyopathy patients by simply adding supplements of the nutrient called CoQlO to their daily medications.1
As soon as I returned home, I thoroughly researched the medical literature about the use of CoQlO and decided that it was safe to try with my friend. What did Wayne have to lose? I asked him into my office the next day and started him on a dosage of CoQlO similar to what Dr. Langsjoen had been recommending. |
Bottom Line Health
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| Weight-loss expert and cardiologist Dr. James M. Rippe teamed up with Weight Watchers more than 10 years ago to rigorously study the group's techniques. Along the way, he has exposed some of the most common diet myths. Here are his latestfindings...
Myth 1: Most diets fail. A 1950's study reported that approximately 95% of diets fail. This, and similar findings in 1992 from the National Institutes of Health, gives the impression that it is almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off. This destructive myth discourages many people from even trying to lose weight. |
| Kaare Harald Bonaa, MD, PhD, primary investigator, NORVIT trial, professor of medicine and consultant cardiologist, Institute of Community Medicine, University of Tromso, Norway.
Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director, Cardiovascular Nutrition Lab and Stanley Gershoff Professor of Nutrition, US Department of Agriculture's Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, Boston.
Council for Responsible Nutrition.
The New EnglandJournal of Medicine.
Two new studies question the conventional wisdom that folic acid and B vitamin supplements cut cardiovascular risk. |
Dr. Timothy Scott
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 By simply making small chest incisions, a cardiologist could reach down with some suture and tie off the two mammary arteries. It was assumed the procedure would lead to greater blood flow to the heart because it was well established that it provided a great deal of relief to patients. Then a Seattle cardiologist and some of his colleagues decided to see if any of the relief was due simply to a placebo effect. Patients suffering with angina were taken to surgery, had the incisions cut into their chests, but unknown to them, some never actually had the surgical procedure. It did not matter. |
Tori Hudson, N.D.
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 Consultation with a cardiologist is important in determining the value or need for such tests.
Increasingly, blood tests for cardiovascular biomarkers, which may serve as markers for CVD, are being done in healthy women. Tests for lipoprotein (a), C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, homocysteine, and subfractions of HDL-C and LDL-C are a few of the more frequently used. It is difficult to say with certainty, at this time, in whom and how often these should be done. |
Bottom Line Health
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| George Sopko, MD, cardiologist, National Institutes of Health, and project officer, Women's Ischemia Syndrome Evaluation, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Because plaque tends to collect in smaller blood vessels in women rather than in major arteries as it does in men, standard diagnostic testing of women can miss the warning signs of heart disease, a large US government study suggests. |
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