Dr Jason Kaplan BSc(Med) MBBS(Hons) FRACP FCSANZ FACC is a specialist adult cardiologist and physician with a strong interest in sports and preventative cardiology.  Prior to training in cardiology, Dr Kaplan completed additional advanced training in medical oncology and pharmacology. His training in these areas allows Dr Kaplan to adopt a more holistic approach to patient care, particularly those with multiple medical issues. Dr Kaplan has completed additional training in cardiac imaging in Australia and is a senior clinical lecturer in Medicine in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Macquarie University.  He has worked with the NSW Institute of Sport, Olympic athletes and the National Rugby League. 

www.drjasonkaplan.com

A listener asked me to do an episode on "what do we do if patients refuse their blood pressure and cholesterol medication?".  We live in an interesting time where medicine is rapidly evolving for lots of reasons and often discussions around lifestyle, nutrition and supplements are met with ideology and emotional reactivity.  But we need to have a mature, calm and open dialogue about these things. We need to accept we all (myself included!) need to continue learning and the only way to do that is to be humble and curious yet sensible and look at the evidence critically.  You may agree or you may disagree with some of these points, but appreciate it for what it is.  

“Follow the person who seeks the truth; run from the person who says he has found it.” – Václav Havel

I must admit though I failed to raise the Mediterranean diet here and it should be noted (as we discussed in the diabetes episode) that this is a great whole foods way of life that is easy to stick to and enjoyable, and good at reducing CVD risk.  Though what we are really discussing in this episode are diet approaches designed to reverse existing coronary artery disease.

 

Some resources mentioned:

- Nice chart incorporating Calcium scores and traditional CVD risk http://www.onlinejacc.org/content/72/4/434

- Risk calculator with various factors http://chd.bestsciencemedicine.com/calc2.html 

 

Conflicts of Interest: Dr Kaplan is an ambassador for the Sydney Running Festival sponsored by Blackmores and Bioceuticals

 

 

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