Of the five popular heart books I've recently picked off Amazon, Dr. Ignarro's will no doubt have an immediate appeal to many readers. He permits steaks, sanctions some other commonly forbidden foods, and pushes pills as a cure for heart disease, which he ascribes to insufficient nitric oxide (hence, the constant use of the acronym N.O., including the somewhat tedious slogan "Say Yes to NO"). The book can at times seem a bit quirky: like most of these writers the author doesn't pass up a chance to remind us of his credentials and accomplishments; the chapters and statements can be annoyingly repetitious, written as though a previously stated point were being made for the first time; the author provides an e-mail address and encourages the reader to write, then adds he expects more mail than he or his staff will have time to reply to. The inserts containing testimonies by "successful" Ignarro program followers somehow seem less reassuring when the source is a 32-year-old. Finally, the author can be exasperatingly quick to throw in numerous "in additions." In other words, the recommendation for 20 minutes of moderate exercise three days per week comes with inserted testimonials by marathon runners along with an insistence that, in addition to those three days, another two days must be committed to weight training (curiously the author devotes no more than a single paragraph to describing these exercises, even while proclaiming them as another essential source of N.O. and later claiming that he indeed has described an exercise program for the reader).
But perhaps of greatest interest to most readers will be the "magic bullet"--the supplement that will ensure sufficient production of nitric oxide to accomplish the promise of the book's not-so- modest title. And here's where the claim that a single supplement is the key begins to take on leaks with the potential to sink the ship. There are actually six supplements on the "must take" list, chief among them the amino acid arginine which, when taken with the complementary, or "synergistic," amino acid citrulline, will enable the body to manufacture enough N.O. to keep things freely flowing in refreshed if not renewed arteries. And the six supplements are to be taken in fairly generous quantities and in megapotencies (anything less than 4 grams will nullify any benefit)--along WITH your prescribed drugs (the author blithely asserts his N.O. regimen will "boost" the effects of your statin drugs). But soon the reader is encouraged to sample every other vitamin and trendy supplement you may or may not have heard of--from garlic to resvinatrol/resveratrol to dark chocolate to soy sauce to green tea to krill to taurine ("Try it: see if you like it" is a frequent phrase--somewhat strange in reference to a supplement that is unlikely to have anything resembling an overnight effect. More importantly, a reader might be forgiven for wondering whatever happened to the initial emphasis on the miraculous synergy of just two carefully measured products? By the end of the book (and dozens of supplements later), the author predicts that all of these vitamins and compounds will be imminently available in "mega-cardiovascular" dosages.
And what's the reward for agreeing to become an obsessive pill swallower and walking chemical plant? Assuming you can tolerate all this stuff (I can't even handle ginseng) and have some quality of life remaining along with a healthy heart, you're allowed to eat red meat and fats (in moderation). But it's questionable whether Dr. Ignarro's book is all that less strict than Dr. Esselstyn's ("Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease," which flat out forbids the consumption of any product that owes its existence to "the face of a mother"--including, of course, meat (incl. fish), milk, eggs, and oils (incl. fish oil).
At least there's something all of these guys agree on--saturated fat and free radicals are bad and omega 3 is good. But especially in the area of "degree," or "quantity," the differences among the authors are at times more conspicuous than the similarities. And it would appear that, as yet anyway, Ignarro's recommendations have not caught fire. Looking at the shelves in both a Walgreen's and a local health store, I saw no sign of either of the two "vital" amino acids. (On the other hand, there were several brands--and not on the spice shelves, mind you--of cinnamon! So obviously someone has recently penned a best-seller touting the medicinal wonders of the seasoning, which no doubt explains why, along with acai and resvanatrol, it's currently receiving valuable shelf space at your local drug or health food store.)
If you want even more pill ideas (and haven't already been bombarded by cheerleaders for CoQ10, even though Ignarro conveniently makes room for it at the end of his book), you may wish to check out Dr. Sinatra's book ("Reverse Heart Disease Now"). I'm no scientist, but the reader should be aware of a school of scientific thought that strongly questions if not categorically rejects the notion that chemicals manufactured by and comprising the human organism can efficiently be replaced through oral supplementation--the cellular "membrane barrier" simply prohibits it. Of course, there's always Dr. Devane's book ("Heart Smart"), practical, commonsensical and informative--and guaranteed to immediately throw a heart-stopping scare into even the most heedless reader. However, Dean Ornish's book ("Reversing Heart Disease"), though written in the 1990s, is still, to my mind, the most thoughtful and persuasive. At least he's able to give consideration to the possibility that the consuming isolation that is likely to characterize the existence of someone who's centering their daily existence on foods and supplements could be as harmful as the disease itself.
[Later: the url for the author's website as given in the book is inoperative. Instead, place a "dr" in front of "ignarro." Be aware that the critical N.O. supplements are available primarily through the controversial Herbalife company.] |