Product Description

Until now conventional medicine could detect heart disease in only one out of every two patients. Until now the only way to know if you were sick was by waiting for a heart attack. Until now nearly everything you had ever learned about the link between cholesterol and heart attacks was false. Enter H. Robert Superko, M.D., and his groundbreaking book, Before the Heart Attacks. As a pioneer in the science of blood lipid management, Dr. Superko has turned the cardiac establishment on its ear by introducing brand-new ways to prevent and treat heart disease. Dr. Superko has developed an approach to treat and prevent heart problems that is based not on pills but on diet and exercise. While Dr. Superko recommends blood testing to ensure the highest accuracy, readers will be able to improve their heart conditions immediately simply by completing a questionnaire and shifting their diets in one of four ways. -Reveals nine important, cutting-edge medical tests that doctors rarely use -Offers an individualized approach based on risk factors, test results, and a self-assessment questionnaire This enormously valuable information will enable readers to learn how to best care for themselves for longer, healthier lives.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #582338 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From Amazon.com
In this lucid and revolutionary book, cardiologist Robert Superko counsels readers about how to outwit their genes by identifying "metabolic markers" that predict future heart attacks. "To make a preemptive strike, you have to know which factors are putting you in harm’s way," he explains. So rather than focusing on cholesterol count, Superko outlines a patient-doctor partnership to create a personal risk profile he calls a "cardiac fingerprint." Here’s the drill: Through a detailed self-assessment, patients identify a series of risk factors (family history, age, physical traits, medical conditions). If the risk profile is high, the next step is a physician- ordered blood test to identify metabolic markers (for example, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and lipoprotein) that indicate high risk for heart attack. Depending on the results, tests such as a carotid or intra-vascular ultrasound can pinpoint heart disease. With this data in hand, Dr. Superko is convinced that patients have the power to change their cardiac destiny. For each significant risk, he suggests prescriptive keys in diet, activity level, nutrition and medication. With writer Laura Tucker, Dr. Superko demystifies complex issues about heart health. His ideas are compelling and optimistic—he believes in a future when every heart attack will be an anomaly. The only challenge may be persuading your cholesterol counting doctor. --Barbara Mackoff

Customer Reviews

Antique Thinking from 1984. Idle Banging to an Old Tune
This book was obsolete a year ago. The current cutting-edge medical literature does not sing the same tune as the author does. The author owns a big cholesterol laboratory/clinic. New studies, to the consternation of the big anti-lipid pill sellers, are showing that we have all been "mis-informed" and that "bad cholesterol" is not our primary problem, but is just a side-nuisance and certainly not the cause of heart disease as it has been touted in the past! It is not our lipid levels that cause heart disease....it is our bodies' inflammatory-response to a lifelong infectious process. Read the book just written called: Has Heart Disease Been Cured? by Mulhall to get the real scoop. Now that book is cutting edge! You can buy the book here at Amazon.com

Contains a major flaw
The major contribution of this book is listing and describing metabolic markers for heart disease other than cholesterol.
The major flaw of the book is that he recommends pretty much the standard AHA diet of 30% fat for those persons whose markers (other than cholesterol) are normal. That diet will not stop continued stenosis of the coronary arteries (plaque buildup). The only way to stop plaque buildup in the coronary arteries, as demonstrated by angiographic evidence (the gold standard that looks at flow in the arteries) is the very low fat diet, plus high fiber, low sugar, that reduces cholesterol below 150. The experimental evidence that is persuasive has been done by Dean Ornish, MD, and Caldwell Esselstyn, MD. Of course, Nathan Pritikin (a chemist) was the grandfather of this diet. His autopsy showed his arteries were clear of plaque.
The author states that a very low fat diet for some people will bring about LDL Pattern B. First, that will not happen with all people. Second, the evidence of the benefits of a very low fat, low sugar, high fiber diet, is far stronger than the studies on the danger of LDL Pattern B with such a diet.

Layman's Guide to Latest Heart Testing and Treatment
I've been looking for this kind of book for years. With a family history, high cholesterol and adverse reaction to statin's I needed help in understanding what's going on in detail and what are my non-invasive treatment alternative's.
This book helps you find the answers by giving you a short basic test and then providing simple instruction of how to take it to the next level for an individualized "cardiac fingerprint". Instead of just the basic cholesterol exam it explains in layman's terms the most important tests to request and their meaning.
I plan to share this one with my doctor as well as the entire family.