5 Tips for Heart Health

Every decade, as we get older, many of us find we're a few pounds heavier. I'm no different. I'm 66, and I just decided it was time to practice what I preach as chair of the cardiology department at the Cleveland Clinic. So I cut some calories and exercised, and the extra pounds slowly disappeared.

It's interesting to me how much trouble patients have losing weight. One of the things they have to stay away from is fad diets. Every true believer out there has a diet book, and they're all mutually contradictory. One will say eat no fat. The next one will say eat no carbs. They're all wrong. None of these diets are healthy or appropriate for cardiac health.

1. What to eat

Heart health is determined by the quantity and types of food you eat. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at a low-fat diet versus a Mediterranean diet. Those who consumed a diet rich in olive oil and nuts had a much lower risk for heart disease. Also: Don't take dietary supplements. There's no way to know what's in them (they are largely unregulated), and there's little scientific evidence of any benefits. There's some evidence for vitamin D and calcium, but the widespread use of vitamin D is out of control. Avoid vitamin E. Avoid coenzyme Q10. Avoid fish oil; just eat more fish.

2. Statins work

Statins are remarkable drugs, and they've been shown to lower the risk of heart attack and stroke by 30 to 35 percent. Those of us who treat older patients were appalled by the recent guidelines suggesting that you should not give statins to people 75 and older. That is just medically wrong. Today's 75-year-old can live to be 90 or 95. I treated my father-in-law at 75, and he's 97 now. He had high cholesterol and lots of risk, and I said to him, "You may be 75, but you're not dead." At the end of the day, we have to advise our patients based on their individual risk factors.