The Heart of the Matter: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks [Hardcover]

Peter Salgo (Author), Joe Layden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2003

We are on the cusp of an enormous breakthrough in preventing heart attacks -- forever. In The Heart of the Matter, Dr. Peter Salgo, associate director of the Open Heart ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital, offers a simple formula to treat people before they get sick, which in turn will prevent heart attacks before they occur.

For the first time in history, we know what really causes heart attacks. And that knowledge has led Dr. Salgo to this amazingly simple and straightforward program that will save millions of lives.

• First, everyone will benefit from statins, the cholesterol-busting drugs marketed as Lipitor, Zocor, and others -- which Dr. Salgo say should be available over the counter.
• Next, everyone should be tested for a silent infection called chlamydia pneumonia. Not to be confused with the sexually transmitted disease, chlamydia pneumonia is a common bacteria that more than half of all Americans have been exposed to without knowing it. Dr. Salgo explains the links between this disease and the causes of heart attacks. This is huge news because if heart disease is an infectious disease, then it can be prevented and cured with antibiotics.
• The final ingredient is aspirin. We always knew that it prevented heart attacks, but Dr. Salgo explains why in layman's terms.

This groundbreaking book also offers a self-test that readers can take to assess their own personal risk for heart disease.

The Heart of the Matter is the beginning of a change in the treatment of heart disease. It introduces a preventative program that includes traditional diet and exercise guidelines as well as a blanket recommendation that adults, even young adults, incorporate medicines into their ongoing pursuit of health and longevity -- which, until now, seemed impossible to many. Now, without using a lot of indecipherable medical jargon, this invaluable new guide will show you exactly how to attain that longer, healthier life that so many people wish for.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Salgo, M.D., is the associate director of the Open Heart ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He is also an Emmy Award-winning medical journalist, practicing physician, and respected health-care futurist who has been speaking about health care and heart care, in particular, for more than twenty-five years. Currently practicing anesthesiology and internal medicine at Presbyterian Hospital, Dr. Salgo also teaches at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons. He lives in New York with his wife, Heidi.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (December 23, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060544287
• ISBN-13: 978-0060544287
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,492,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bound to be controversial -- but arguably a lifesaver, February 16, 2004

By 

skeptic (Northeast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Heart of the Matter: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks (Hardcover)

It's fascinating to me that two respected and reputable New York cardiologists, Peter Salgo in "The Heart of the Matter" and Jonathan Sackner Bernstein in "Before It Happens to You," have come out in the same month with books espousing the unusual, rather heretical view that most Americans, even those regarded as healthy, would benefit from taking the popular cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins. The two books differ in several ways -- Salgo also focuses on aspirin and an infection that many Americans may harbor, Bernstein on the benefits of ACE inhibitors, etc. -- and I think the Bernstein book is a little more repetitive than the Salgo book and perhaps written on a slightly more casual level. But what's remarkable, to me at least, is that these books agree on the usefulness of statins, in fact on the crucial NEED for them: that is, the need to take them NOW instead of waiting till you've suffered a heart attack (when these drugs are generally prescribed). The two physicians are bluntly dismissive of the conventional wisdom that one should attempt to control cholesterol primarily by exercising more and altering one's diet. They don't say that these are bad choices, simply that they don't help very much; exercise and diet are relatively ineffective because 80 percent of one's cholesterol level is genetically determined and is not amenable to lifestyle changes. Salgo and Bernstein are, I think, rather courageous in advocating a solution so unfashionable; indeed, they are "thinking the unthinkable" -- that there IS a sort of pharmacological "quick fix" that happens to be safe and inexpensive; that swallowing some pills every day will actually lengthen our lives; and no doubt there are many well-meaning souls who will try to shout them down. I suspect, though, having read both books and having found them both persuasive, that Americans might well live significantly longer if they followed these doctors' advice.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I can't imagine that this is a healthy approach, February 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heart of the Matter: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks (Hardcover)

You don't need a medical background to know that a healthy lifestyle will prevent heart disease and help reverse it if you already have it. One of the reviewers praised this book because it doesn't focus on diet, but having a healthy diet is good for the heart. I am always supicious of "quick-fix" approaches to complicated problems and this book falls into that category. I think we are far too quick to rush to instant solutions instead of doing the hard work we need to do in order to maintain our health and correct our problems. Who knows what information will come out about statin drugs in the future, just like doctors are now worried about resistance to antibiotics because antibiotics have been so overused. Old-fashioned approaches like diet and exercise should be the foundation of a heart program. Then if that doesn't work, maybe you need medicine.

10 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous and Irresponsible, February 6, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heart of the Matter: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks (Hardcover)

This book is deeply problematic. The authors recommend a cardiac care program consisting essentially of three components--statins, aspirin and chlamydia testing. There is increasing evidence that statin drugs are linked to muscle wasting conditions, fatigue, memory loss and other problematic symptoms, even when liver enzymes are normal. Too many people who complain of these symptoms to physicians are told that these are just "normal signs of aging." That's not true! There are excellent, responsible, integrative methods that can reduce cholesterol and cardiac inflammation without such dangerous means. At least they should be tried, before statin treatment is initiated. Exercise, dietary changes, stress reduction and other means are de-emphasized in this book, and these should form the mainstays of a good cardiac care program. As a medical social worker who deals with cardiac patients, I work with many physicians, including cardiologists, who were appalled.