An informative book but leaves the following out:

1. It is an advertisement for the service in an interesting way ( you pay the cost by purchasing the book)

2. It does not emphasize the point that a heart scan is EBCT scan and not an MDCT scan. Lately allot of cardiology practices have been advertising MDCT scan which involves a huge radiation and kidney damage risk from the contrast used. Yes lets prevent heart disease and increase breast cancer!

3. EBCT scan is a way of assessing risk and not a way to follow response to treatment. Using a heart scan to follow up response to risk factor modification is psuedoscience. there are other methods to do that.

and finally as I applaud efforts to educate people about their health I despise building wealth from peoples misery. If your doctor doesn't have time to talk to you ( Find Another One)

I am one of the people in my mid 50's whose father had by-pass surgery in his 70's. I had low cholesterol, low blood pressure, exercised and ate very healthy food. I started to have unstable angina, and no one would believe that it was my heart, they said that was impossible. I ended up in the ER, had a stent put in and Re-stenosed (re-blocked) from the stent, then was forced to have Bypass surgery. No one could tell me why these things were happening. They put me on Lipitor even tho my cholesterol was not very high. It dropped down to 102, and I started to feel really strange, sort of out of it. After I read this book, I paid to have the blood test he recommends (it was too late to have the scan once you have had surgery), and found out I had 3 times the number of Small Dense LDL particles than you are supposed to have, which put me in the top risk category for another blockage. And guess what, there is only ONE thing that will change this number - it is plain old Niacin. Not only that, but my HDL went from the 30's to 88 on my last blood test! Please do not take the Sustained Release or Slow Release, I had liver problems from this (you have to have your liver enzymes tested periodically if you are going to take Niacin). I take 500 mg. after each meal, and had to work up to that amount. I eat a Mediterrean diet, but then I always have.
My doctors are amazed by these numbers, and still do not recommend the blood tests. cardiologists are in the Dark Ages - I have had 3 of the top ones in my city, it's a shame. Oh, its been 3 years and I feel great, but it took me 2 years to get back. One thing I notice is that when I go to my cardiologist's office, it is full of older, pretty out of shape people. Maybe its just a different population, and maybe they wouldn't be able to follow the recommendations in this book.

I have researched coronary artery disease in great depth and I can say with confidence that the most important source of information about reversing heart disease is found on the author's website: [...]

You will see that many physicians and patients are interacting and sharing the methods of authentic, measured reversals -- yes, reverals, measured by scans -- on this website.

This is the future of cardiology.

This book is fascinating. Tough science written in a friendly, accurate and motivating manner. I can think of few books that cover the depth of lipid biochemistry and heart disease in language that is understood by the non-science readers. I not only found the diet and supplements advise stimulating and convincing (and I'm a nutritionist!), but I have started to incorporate some of these concepts when I advise my subjects and patients at Rush who need to make positive health changes. Furthermore, I was surprised at the level of honesty, true caring and deep thought that went into this book. The documentation of references used in Dr. Davis's book gives it superb credibility--Dr. Davis did an excellent job assessing and critiquing the key studies that have been published and making the complex findings relative to his readers. He is a brilliant cardiologist with a heart!

Since heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the US and other developed nations, I highly recommend reading this book and incorporating the lessons into your daily life. These steps will focus your attention on necessary steps to decrease heart disease and stop the "wondering phase" we all tend to live in. I thank my former boss for buying me this book--he knew I would it stimulating!
Susie W. Rockway, Ph.D. CNS; Assistant Professor in Clinical Nutrition

I have researched coronary artery disease in great depth and I can say with confidence that the most important source of information about reversing heart disease is found on the author's website: [...]

You will see that many physicians and patients are interacting and sharing the methods of authentic, measured reversals -- yes, reverals, measured by scans -- on this website.

This is the future of cardiology.

I wanted to read this book for two reasons: my husband has arrhythmia, sees a cardiologist regularly, takes his meds and aspirin but still has concerns. I know as I age that heart disease catches up with women and does become the #1 killer. Although I think the author may push certain things because he developed this system and the EBT scan, all these items are still valid. You can check your calcium levels, C-reactive proteins, and HDL/LDL levels in the blood, but the plaque of which 20% is consistently calcium, can confirm quite easily if one has arterial plaque and how to reduce it. Insurance might not cover it. Dr. Davis includes letters for your doctor to send to insurance companies to at least recommend the necessity of the procedure and its coverage. I doubt that insurance will cover me but I am definitely going to look into the scan and its cost because i think it will be very useful. He wrote of many examples of people who were healthy, exercised, ate well but still has high numbers for arterial plaque; essentially an heart attack waiting to happen but silently. Many of Dr. Davis' tips are easy to do and helpful to all.

This book and its author are at the forefront of a revolution in heart health care. It contains an incredibly extensive and thorough discussion of the state of the art of preventive cardiology as of 2004, when it was written. (The author maintains a web site with even more up-to-date information as well as a blog with almost daily postings on new developments.) Most of the explanation and advice is still way ahead of the way cardiology practitioners interact with patients today in most major medical centers.

The book is written in plain English and an engaging style, and makes the technical concepts easily understood, even to people (like me) with no medical background.

The author advocates the use of non-invasive, low-radiation, widely available heart scans to determine the extent of coronary plaque. If plaque is found, he next explains the use of new cholesterol tests that analyze cholesterol in more detail than standard tests. Finally, he explains what to do to correct the abnormalities the detailed analysis may uncover.

The book will be of most interest to people who are willing to take control of their health and who may even be willing to challenge their doctors to catch up with recent advances in the diagnosis and treatment of coronary artery disease. The book is bluntly critical of the traditional cardiology strategies employed today in most hospitals and cardiology practices. As noted by another reviewer, he does advocate taking some supplements, but also tells you which supplements he thinks are worthless, based on reviews of numerous studies and his own experience treating hundreds of patients.

I found this book in my post-stent implant procedure investigation of the state of the art in heart disease treatment (I'm 50 years old). I wish I had found it and read it years earlier. I might have avoided having had the stent implanted to begin with. Thankfully, it's not too late to start applying the strategies he advocates.

If you want to see the future of preventive heart medicine today, explained in understandable, practical terms and concepts, this is the book to get.