What if our healthcare system isn’t broken — but is performing exactly as it was designed? In this episode, Dr. Regina Druz sits down with Dr. Yele Aluko, an interventional and structural-heart cardiologist who spent years opening blocked arteries and implanting heart valves before stepping back from the bedside to work “upstream” on health policy…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHigh Cholesterol & Lp(a) The 2026 ACC/AHA Dyslipidemia Guideline introduces five major changes: a new risk calculator (PREVENT replaces Pooled Cohort Equations), explicit LDL targets reinstated (below 55 mg/dL for highest-risk patients), universal Lp(a) testing for every adult, formal Class 3 (No Benefit) ratings for dietary supplements, and CAC score tiers tied directly…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHypertensionMetabolic Syndrome Is weightlifting good for your heart? The evidence — much of it published in the last decade — is unambiguously yes, with important nuance about dose, intensity, and patient population. As an integrative cardiologist, Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M views resistance training as one of the…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHigh Cholesterol & Lp(a)Hypertension Vitamins that remove plaque from arteries — the claim appears regularly in supplement marketing. The honest clinical answer is more nuanced: no vitamin dissolves or removes existing plaque. But several vitamins and nutrients have robust evidence for slowing plaque progression, reducing the oxidative and inflammatory processes…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHigh Cholesterol & Lp(a)Hypertension Herbs for heart health have been used in traditional medicine systems for centuries — and several have accumulated enough clinical trial data to warrant serious attention from integrative cardiologists. Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M evaluates herbal cardiovascular interventions by the same standard as any…
ArrhythmiasAtrial FibrillationHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHypertension Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition in which the upper airway repeatedly collapses during sleep, causing breathing to stop and restart throughout the night. It is one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in cardiology — and one of the most consequential. As an integrative cardiologist, Dr. Regina Druz, MD,…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHypertension The early signs of heart disease are frequently subtle, easily attributed to other causes, and dismissed for years before a cardiac event forces the issue. As an integrative cardiologist, Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M sees patients who had warning signs for a decade before their first cardiology…
ArrhythmiasAtrial FibrillationHeart Disease Arrhythmia means your heart is beating with an irregular rhythm — too fast, too slow, or in an uncoordinated pattern. As an integrative cardiologist, Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M evaluates arrhythmia not just by classifying the rhythm disturbance, but by identifying the upstream triggers that standard cardiology workups routinely miss:…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHigh Cholesterol & Lp(a) Managing dyslipidemia: a nutraceutical comparison. Cholesterol-lowering supplements are one of the most common topics Dr. Regina Druz discusses with patients — both those who want to avoid statins and those already on medication who want to do more. Three supplements stand out for their clinical evidence:…
ArrhythmiasAtrial FibrillationCoronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHypertensionStroke Prevention The best and worst drinks for heart health — ranked by evidence, not opinion. As an integrative cardiologist, Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M breaks down which beverages protect your cardiovascular system, which quietly raise your risk, and what the research actually shows about coffee, alcohol,…
ArrhythmiasAtrial FibrillationHeart Disease How to stop heart palpitations is one of the most common questions Dr. Regina Druz, MD, MBA, FACC, FMCP-M fields in the clinic — and one of the most mismanaged. Most people are told palpitations are “nothing to worry about” after a normal EKG. What they’re rarely told is that the most…
Coronary Artery DiseaseHeart Attack PreventionHeart DiseaseHigh Cholesterol & Lp(a)Stroke Prevention Foods that reduce arterial plaque are a legitimate focus of cardiovascular research — but the mechanism is more nuanced than the word “clean” implies. As an integrative cardiologist, I want to give you an accurate picture: certain foods meaningfully reduce inflammation, slow plaque progression, and…