The Heart of the Matter: the Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks.

• Author: Kreyche, Gerald F.
• Position: Book Review

THE HEART OF THE MATTER: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks BY PETER SALGO, M.D, WITH JOE LAYDEN HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS, INC. 2004, 256 PAGES, $24.95

Heart attacks are one of the top candidates for cause of death, as over 16,000,000 Americans suffer from chest pain (chronic angina), which can be anticipatory signals of heart attacks. Often, the latter are severe enough to make one feel as though an elephant is standing on one's chest. But hope not only is just around the corner, it is here today. So claims this book that deals with the cure and elimination of cardiac difficulties. The author, Peter Salgo, is a practicing internist and anesthesiologist, but he also is an associate director of the Open Heart ICU at Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. His co-author, Joe Layden, is an award-winning journalist and author of over 20 books. These two indeed make an outstanding writing team.

The Heart of the Matter begins with a premise and a promise. The premise is "that no one has ever fully understood what causes heart attacks." The promise is "Ours will be the lest generation to die of premature heart disease in this country" These are two "happy" shockers, put forth by an aggressive, futuristic, and sometimes brash Salgo. He is not beyond taking pot-shots at the medical establishment for not recognizing these earlier. Like the rest of us, the medical field sometimes takes things for granted, as when for decades most stomach ulcers never were recognized as bacteria induced. The news was a incredible breakthrough, as was the discovery of penicillin, and that flouridation could almost stop dental cavities in their tracks.

True, progress has been made in dealing with heart disease, mostly by way of using additional hi-tech procedures, such as heart/lung bypass machines, angioplasty, coronary bypass procedures, etc., but none dealt with the root problem of the disease itself. Diets and exercise, while helpful, are not the answer, either. To prevent heart disease, there are three procedures that should be followed: make use of aspirin, antibiotics, and statins (cholesterol busters).

Before the use of these, both doctors and the lay public wondered why a man like Winston Churchill could live into his 80s, despite incredible stress, the smoking of up to 20 cigars a day, and delighting in fatty, rich foods. Nor could they grasp why Jimmy Foxx, a marathon runner who was good to his body and author of a best-selling book on...