Danielle Belardo, MD Profile picture
Cardiologist obsessed with prevention & nutrition science
West 12 Health Profile picture 1 subscribed
Nov 15, 2023 7 tweets 3 min read
1 year ago I met a patient w/ obesity, HLD, HTN & symptomatic paroxysmal afib, considering ablation.

She was nervous&held off on the procedure.

I started her on semaglutide & a plant predominant diet.

1 year later:⬇️42 lbs, HTN remission, afib undetectable, ablation cancelled!
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In 12 months on semaglutide and a high fiber, plant predominant, low SFA diet:

⬇️Her weight dropped from 201 to 159.
⬇️Her BMI dropped from 31.5 to 24.9.
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Jun 22, 2022 7 tweets 12 min read
@kevinnbass @bluestarpr @ethanjweiss @DrNadolsky @Drlipid @PeterAttiaMD @POhukainen What really drives LDL particles into the artery wall is particle#/apoB. Typically - 90-95% of your apoB lipoproteins are LDL particles. Once you exceed a certain threshold in the plasma, the liver can’t clear them – so they go into the arteries. 1/n @kevinnbass @bluestarpr @ethanjweiss @DrNadolsky @Drlipid @PeterAttiaMD @POhukainen But when particle numbers (apoB, LDL-p) are discordant from cholesterol metrics (LDL-C, non HDL-c)—this is where people get mixed up -- but risk always traffics with the particle number/apoB. The ex I give my med students re small vs large LDL size, risk, and discordance -- 2/n
Jun 3, 2022 10 tweets 3 min read
Thanks Optimizing PCI for inviting me to give a talk about nutrition & ASCVD prevention! I was so thrilled to see so much interest in prevention from all of my wonderful colleagues who put stents in every day!😊 Image Prevention is the best intervention, but thankful for interventional cardiologists who can intervene when our patients need it ❤️ Image
May 31, 2022 8 tweets 3 min read
Most underrated, anti-aging, fountain of youth, “biohack” that bro science won’t tell you:

➡️Sunscreen. All the time. The second you get up. Every day. All year long.

Oh and it prevents skin cancer too.

You’re welcome 🥰 +yes, even if you work inside (just make it part of your routine)
+reapply every 2 hours
+mineral or chemical, it doesn’t matter, just pick one
Apr 4, 2022 22 tweets 7 min read
This weekend at #ACC22 it was such an honor to present on nutrition & share our new paper "Practical, Evidence-Based Approaches to Nutritional Modifications to Reduce Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: An ASPC Clinical Practice Statement" sciencedirect.com/science/articl… It was an honor to lead a clinical practice statement with world renowned cardiologists @DrMarthaGulati @ErinMichos @rblument1 @kcferdmd @DrOstfeld @RonBlankstein @pnatarajanmd @KoushikReddyMD and world expert nutrition scientists @KevinH_PhD @deirdre_tobias @KCKlatt & Dr Sriram
Feb 12, 2022 26 tweets 6 min read
Another day, another article ignoring guidelines & expert consensus on nutrition and cardiovascular disease. Disappointed to see this article from @washingtonpost post deny the link between saturated fat, cholesterol, diet, heart disease and erectile dysfunction.Thread🧵 This will be a long thread, so I will provide all citations at the end 😊
Feb 11, 2022 15 tweets 4 min read
The wellness space is filled with endless anecdotes, hypothesis & “mechanistic based medicine” driven by pseudoscience gurus who are often physicians, scientists & RDs. After the ep of our podcast w/ @DrJenGunter I’ve received many messages from women abt our debunks⬇️
a thread🧵 During our episode of Wellness: Fact vs. Fiction, @DrJenGunter debunked many common Women’s health myths that are pervasive in the wellness space podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wel…
Feb 10, 2022 6 tweets 3 min read
Today is the day🔥Our new podcast Wellness: Fact Vs Fiction has dropped & it was only appropriate to bring on the evidence based QUEEN of debunking Women’s health misinfo - @DrJenGunter

Gwyneth Paltrow will hate it 😜

Avail anywhere you listen to pods

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wel… Image @DrJenGunter has been called Twitter’s resident gynecologist and the internet’s OB/GYN and knows a thing or two about the misinformation rabbit hole having nearly become victim to medical lies herself after her own child’s diagnosis.
Dec 24, 2021 8 tweets 3 min read
The lower the LDL the better? Yep. Endless data, RCTs, Mendelian randomization, have given us the key to prevent atherosclerosis in our patients.

“Cholesterol: the race to the bottom” by the one and only Eugene Braunwald

academic.oup.com/eurheartj/arti… Some dietary tips to ⬇️ apoB/LDL-c
Nov 24, 2021 6 tweets 3 min read
SO proud of my friend @RealDoctorMike who dropped his cholesterol over 50 mg/dL in just *5 weeks* by following my favorite 3 high yield tips for eating a more plant predominant diet!

You can check out our discussion, and see his amazing results here! ⬇️

ImageImage My favorite 3 high yield tips for lowering cholesterol via diet:

1. Drop your saturated fat intake. This can be through decreasing red meat, butter, high fat dairy, high saturated fat/sugary processed foods.
Swap with foods higher in polyunsaturated fat instead
Aug 1, 2021 7 tweets 2 min read
Shared this case a few months ago & given the amount of vaccine misinformation out there - I think it’s worth re sharing.

38 y/o patient presented with fatigue, 7 weeks s/p COVID +. *Before vax was available
(Shared with patient permission)
This patient has no pmhx He experienced a mild case of COVID 7 weeks prior, with some sniffles. Over the following 7 weeks he began to feel more fatigued. He experienced some shortness of breath.

12 lead EKG: P waves marked by red arrows. Sinus rhythm, 3:1 AV conduction, RBBB QRS.
Jul 31, 2021 4 tweets 2 min read
Did an exciting interview w/ some incredible people all about COVID vaccines, health misinformation, & we even discussed my passion for veganism (coming on 12 years soon!)❤️

Yes, you can be vegan & pro vaccine.

And… yes I’m not wearing scrubs for the first time in a minute😜 The unfortunate idea that vegans should be anti vaccine is sadly pervasive in the vegan community. Vaccines work, vaccines save lives. And the best activist for animals is one that’s alive and healthy, and cares about humans too.
Jun 25, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I woke up today to like 500 notifications that Dave Asprey had commented all over my Instagram posts to defend his multi million dollar empire of butter in coffee, selling supplements/detoxes, & his pseudoscience about how LDL doesn’t matter.

I have bro science PRESSED 😅 What’s so funny, is that all of these online “health gurus” are constantly trying to denigrate physicians and say we are all bought by pharma (false), and that our guidelines are BS. Meanwhile they make millions selling alternative therapies & partnering with snake oil companies
Jun 24, 2021 20 tweets 7 min read
Another day, another “biohacker” telling people to put butter in their coffee & call it healthy. I love when @bulletproofexec shows up in my comment section on IG. I don’t get $$ from pharma, Asprey. I don’t want patients to put butter in their coffee bc I don’t want them to die. And we don’t tell patients to drink soda either. Please, share with #medtwitter the “thousands of years of medical learning” as you call it, that demonstrates drinking butter is healthy? You’ve only made millions promoting this idea and other pseudoscience. I’ll wait.
Jun 23, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
Being called a cardiology “guideline shill” at least 10X daily by keto Twitter makes me realize I must be doing something right 😂 PS I do really love our cardiology guidelines ❤️
Jun 22, 2021 12 tweets 3 min read
Working with registered dietitians has been INCREDIBLE for my patients care. Especially my patients who are statin hesitant.

...And not just in the way you would expect.

A thread about our telehealth RD @KCKlatt and how he’s impacted our patients care 🧵 Having an RD affiliated with your practice that you can send patients to is incredibly valuable.
As a cardiologist who cares extraordinarily about prevention, whether it’s seeing patients in primary prevention who have hyperlipidemia, diabetes, hypertension, and trying to reduce
Apr 29, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
I think empathy and compassion are the two most important reasons I am a good cardiologist. Not publications, not leadership positions, not titles, not where I trained. It’s because I look at every patient as if they were MY family member. Because they *are* important to someone. Patients are scared, they are looking to us for help. They need us to listen. All of the brilliance in the world, doesn’t trump the power of listening to your patients
Jan 16, 2021 7 tweets 1 min read
Meat eaters: would you eat lab grown meat? Keep in mind it’s structurally identical to non-lab meat! Vegans: would you eat lab grown meat?
Jan 16, 2021 4 tweets 1 min read
My dad is having some statin intolerance, and we just had an hour conversation about trying a PCSK9i, so I offered to e-mail his cardiologist to give her the rundown & he said NO! He said he didn’t want me to “bother her” and he’s her favorite patient 😂

LMAO I’m a cardiologist Playing backseat doctor with parents is always interesting 😂
Dec 23, 2020 16 tweets 3 min read
There is a huge problem of vaccine & COVID misinformation that we have been seeing in the nutrition & wellness space for MONTHS. As the vaccine is rolling out it’s getting worse. And I’m asking everyone with any sort of influence on social media, to help me with this. Thread. If you’ve been following me on social media you already know this but - let me start out by saying that I absolutely believe in the value/health benefits of a plant-based diet. I literally work in a multidisciplinary practice with physicians of various specialties + RDs centered
Oct 29, 2020 5 tweets 3 min read
BuT wHeRE dO yOu gEt yOuR PrOteiN? 😜

4oz of my fave black bean & sesame pasta:
46 g protein
26 g fiber
60% of DV for iron and potassium
30% of DV for calcium

🙃 @ChristianAssad you will love this one!