Customer Reviews

The Heart Disease Breakthrough: The 10-Step Program That Can Save Your Life

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As a physician who limits his practice to hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis prevention and as one who has given hundreds of talks on atherosclerosis thoughout the country, I was blown away by the most succinct, accurate and down to earth discussion of moderm lipidology that I have ever seen. Dr Yannios has taken a very complex topic and made it eminently understandable. It is exactly the way I have been approaching my patients over the last year or two. Unfortunately very few practicing primary care physicians or even cardiologists are aware of the basics he discusses. That means the overwhelming majority of patients in high risk categories or those with existing atherosclerosis are either not treated or inadequately treated. Since I accidently discovered this book while speaking in West Virginia I have made it a point to recommend it to all of my patients and to every physician and physician group that I speak to. It should be must reading for all medical professionals advising patients about atherosclerosis. It is not overkill for me to say this is by far the best the best source of information available on this topic. A physician would have to read dozens of journal articles to gather all of the vital information which is covered so beautifully by Dr Yannios. For those patients and physicians out there who still think that statin drugs are all one needs to useto prevent atheroscleosis, this book will be a mind boggling relevation.

As a medical writer (author of EAT FAT, BE HEALTHY: When A Low-Fat Diet Can Kill You), I found Dr. Yannios's book highly informative. For decades, the medical profession has treated heart disease as one disease, when in fact it is caused by many different factors. Recently, the huge role that inheritance plays in heart disease has begun to change both diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Yannios's book offers specific steps for diagnosis and treatment of these various flavors of heart disease.

I have found his book to be very helpful in working with my cardiologist to treat my own genetically-caused heart disease. I often give Dr. Yannios's book to doctors as a companion to my own book in order to present both the viewpoint of a patient/survivor and of a cutting edge clinician.

Dr. Yannios delves into many of the genetically-caused forms of heart disease and offers a compendium of information that doctors not familiar with this area should read.

Dr. Yannios deals comprehensively with the roughly 25% of the population that carries genes that cause a tripling of heart attack risk. The normal lipid panel is highly innaccurate in diagnosing these serious conditions. A more accurate form of blood test called cholesterol subclass testing is absolutely essential in diagnosing these lipid anomalies.

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Finally, a comprehensive, well researched explanation of a multifactorial and very complicated disease process. This is, in every way, a life saver for those who are serious about their health and willing to do the work necessary to achieve it. Dr. Yannios' book is not just another superficial "feel good" bestseller. As a dietitian, I am very aware that one pill or one fad diet is not the answer to good health. Not only is this book filled with comprehensive guidelines for assessing risk and taking appropriate action, it is also beautifully written. I was absolutely riveted by the heartwrenching case studies which so eloquently put a human face on a very insidious disease process. I heartily recommend Dr. Yannios' book to all who are serious about preventing or reversing heart disease.

I had an MI at the age of 36 (ouch). Since then I've tried to keep up to date on all the real, important research about heart disease causes and prevention. Trust me, you don't want to have a *second* MI.

This book takes all the important stuff you need to know and gives it to you in a form you can understand. Better than that, you can take *action*. Action that is tailored to *YOU*.

Both my GP and my Cardiologist knew less about all the risk factors than I did. We did the super-low-fat diet thing and they wanted to treat my lipids with *only* statins. This book has helped me educate them and given me what I need to advocate for myself. I'm know doing everything I can for my *specific* risk factors.

My diet is now low in carbohydrate. My doctors, of course had put me on an ultra-low-fat diet, which, for me (and for 25% of the U.S. population), was *exactly the wrong thing*. When I went on a high-protein, low carb, moderate fat diet my lipids ***greatly*** improved (oh yah and I lost 30 pounds).

Given my lipids, I know now that Niacin *and* statins are the right choice for my profile (I had an LDL-GGE test recommended in the book).

Hey I just had a thought...maybe *you* should buy this book *before* you have an MI...

After having a heart attack about six years ago at a young age, I resolved to put the disease into remission. I read everything I could find regarding heart disease, books on diet, exercise, cardiac rehabilitation, stress reduction, and cholesterol reduction...It was less than a year ago that I read The Heart Disease Breakthrough by Dr Yannios. The book is a terrific summary of almost everything that I have gleaned from years of reading and consultation. Significant are the descriptions of a number of new important blood tests which go unmentioned in even the current literature and are vital in determining the course of action necessary to combat heart disease in each individual. After reading this book I made an appointment and traveled some distance to have Dr. Yannios review my blood test results and diet and exercise program. He’s tough. I have purchased copies of the book for my children, for my family physician, my cardiologist, and our local hospital’s cardiac rehabilitation library. This book is a must read for anyone with heart disease or a history of heart disease in their family. It’s also a should read for everyone else. Often the first symptom of heart disease is death.

I am a young, athletic women trained in the health sciences. This is a unique book, relevant to everyone and I mean everyone. Just the diet and exercise chapters alone revolutionized my thinking. Dr. Yannios' is the only book that I know of that seperates exercise "styles" according to one's risk factors. And for cardiovascular risk factor analysis, well, this book is the ONLY one that deals with 21st century science.

Despite the broad awareness of cholesterol issues in the U.S., heart disease is rampant. A good part of the reason is that many people have causes for heart disease beyond cholesterol. Dr. Yannios has written the first book for the public that makes the complex issue of lipoprotein testing understandable for the average person. Lipoprotein testing fills in the huge gaps left by cholesterol, identifying risk for heart disease even in people with low or normal cholesterols. Dr Yannios talks about how shockingly often people who've suffered heart attacks (an often fatal event!) are told by their doctors that no cause can be identified, or that the causes are genetic and therefore untreatable. Absolute nonsense! Dr. Yannios tells us why.

Just intensely interesting and highly informative material that is presented perfectly. This information will motivate you to make the changes in your life necessary for good health - and not through "scare tactics".

It's difficult for me to comprehend how anyone who reads this book can come away with a negative opinion that results in a bad review.

I only wish that I had come into possession of this knowledge at an earlier date.

15% of the population could be harmed by low-fat diets and unless you like playing Russian roulette with your life, you should find out if you're one of them (it requires a specific type of cholesterol test). This book is backed up by scientific studies and goes into relevant details of different types of cholesterol particles. It does take some effort to extract the infomation that is spread throughout the book but it is well within reach of most readers and well worth the effort.

I've read a number of books on preventing heart disease and this one is reccomended because it gives extremely important information you will not find in magazine articles, brochures, or other books. It goes into excellent detail on diet and exercise. The only reason why I think these facts aren't better known is that the extra complexity would confuse some people and cause a few to not to adopt low fat diets which is beneficial to most people.

It is encouraging that Dr. Yannios rejects many of the conventional (and incorrect) approaches to heart disease prevention. There have been no studies that conclusively link high blood cholesterol, high dietary cholesterol, high dietary fat, or high blood triglycerides to heart disease. (For more on this, see Dr. Uffe Ravnskov's excellent book "The Cholesterol Myths.") I was pleased particularly pleased to see him mention that many people who have heart disease have normal cholesterol. In fact, nearly half of the patients in the Framingham heart study who died of coronary disease had blood cholesterol under 220!

I am, however, concerned that Dr. Yannios seems to be so concerned with atherosclerosis as a cause of heart disease. As Dr. Ravnsknov's book shows, there is no evidence that atherosclerosis causes heart disease, nor is there any evidence that high blood cholesterol causes atherosclerosis. And without that evidence, it is plainly risky to treat otherwise healthy patients with expensive cholesterol-lowering drugs that may have serious short- and long-term side effects, simply because they have preatherosclerotic streaks in their arteries. Even fetuses have such streaks. Should we give newborns cholesterol lowering drugs? If so, I am going to go sink all my money into pharmaceutical stocks.

I say, read this book, but read it skeptically. Do not go out and ask your doctor to prescribe cholesterol lowering drugs for you, especially if your cholesterol is normal. Go to a good library and read the journal articles on cholesterol and heart disease yourself, including the numbers. (Summaries can and do lie!) Read the clinical trials of cholesterol lowering drugs to discover the side effects of these drugs, and ask yourself whether, if you are currently healthy, you want to live a life riddled with those side effects in the name of your "health." Read a book on statistics so you'll understand what is and is not statitistically significant. And read "The Cholesterol Myths."