Heavy metals, ascorbate deficiency and atypical risk factors: A paradigm shift in modern cardiology

Evidence based prevention strategies rely on the modification of lifestyle habits such as smoking cessation, exercising and following a low fat diet. This is what I assumed until a few years ago when I was made aware of concepts such as orthomolecular nutrition and functional medicine. I then realized that we doctors must open our minds and look for atypical risk factors and understand the body as an agglutinate of billions of cells, not a machine formed by organs working separately. We open narrowed arteries with stents or bypass grafts, with no interest in a systemic aproach. The higher the use of statins and the lower the cholesterol levels in our current society, the higher the incidence of ischemic heart disease and stroke. It is not solely due to our aging population, because it is evident that atherosclerosis is manifesting at earlier ages than ever before. This book is an invitation to think differently. We must not admit that prevention strategies fail. We should re-learn the anatomy and the physiology of the body thinking in terms of cells and metabolic interactions.

Born in Medellin Colombia, graduated at Universidad CES. Cardiology training at University of Navarre in Spain. Assistant Professor and Clinical Investigator in Vascular Medicine. Published articles in transplant vasculopathy, coronary stents, coronary risk factors, heavy metals and atherosclerosis, and atypical risk factors for vascular disease.