The Doctor Weighs In

Nearly 10 years have passed since I first began to see articles from leading vascular scientists like Drs. Erling Falk and Peter Libby that told us that bypass surgery and angioplasty did not prevent heart attacks in stable patients.  These innovators helped us to understand that aggressive medical therapy was the most powerful intervention to prevent myocardial infarction.  Very soon after that I changed my practice from general internal medicine to what has become a focused practice of vascular medicine.  For 10 years now, I have been treating vascular disease with lifestyle change and medical therapy.

Almost as soon as the South Beach diet came out, I was impressed that it was a more sensible approach to weight loss.  The very low fat diet that was popular at that time naturally emphasized carbohydrates and produced triglyceride elevations.  The very low carbohydrate diet allowed the intake of large amounts of saturated fat and that made no sense for patients with high cholesterol and vascular disease.  The South Beach diet called for a reduction in carbohydrate—especially processed carbohydrate and sugar.  It also called for reduction in fat—especially animal fat.  This seemed much more balanced.  The South Beach diet has been very effective in my patients and has helped hundreds lose weight, lower their triglycerides, lower their LDL, and control their blood sugar.  I knew early on that Arthur Agatson is a physician, but I really did not know that he is a preventive cardiologist.

Dr. Agatson had also become aware of the new science demonstrating the power of lifestyle and medical treatment in the improving arterial disease.  He has been a great innovator and has developed an advanced preventive cardiology program in Miami, Florida.  He developed the technique of coronary artery calcium scoring which correlates with the total cholesterol plaque burden in the artery and the history of arterial plaque ruptures.  In fact, the coronary calcium score is calculated using the Agatson method.

He has written a whole series of books on diet including the South Beach diet and a number of cookbooks.  We can find South Beach frozen dinners in the grocery store.  We can find South Beach items on the menu of chain restaurants.  And now, perhaps the best of all, he has combined all of this in a book called the South Beach Heart Program.  This book is wonderfully well written so that patients can fully understand very complicated topics that are important to assess and treat their vascular disease.

The new science of vascular disease has become irrefutable.  This one physician, Dr. Arthur Agatson, has developed new techniques for education, diet, and disease assessment that have dramatically improved our care for these patients while advancing this new science.  If you have an interest in vascular disease for any reason, you owe it to yourself to read Dr. Agatson’s new book, The South Beach Heart Program.  It is fully referenced and I can tell you after 10 years doing this work—it is right on target.