We have an epidemic of heart disease in this country and the conventional treatments, such as the use of statin drugs and surgeries involving artery bypasses and stents, typically do not work well. So, what does?

Dr. Thomas Cowan is a family physician and a founding member of the Weston A. Price Foundation.

In his book, Human Heart, Cosmic Heart: A Doctor's Quest to Understand, Treat, and Prevent Cardiovascular Disease, which is also available as an audiobook from Audible, he helps answer that question.

It's a fascinating book, and not overly technical, making it an excellent addition to any layman's health library.

"Basically, the book has three parts," Cowan says. "For whatever reason, my destiny in my career is that I take on some of the biggest accepted wisdoms … [and] I try to figure out whether they're actually true or not.

The first part is my [personal] story … [In] the second part, I examine the theory that the heart is a pump. I say that the heart is not a pump. Then I explain why the blood moves and what the heart is doing, and the interesting ramifications of that.

The third part is … [about] what causes heart attacks … Here is an interesting point: I learned in medical school there were four major coronary arteries. In some places, it says three. In some places, it says two.

Even the basics of how many major coronary arteries we have is actually in dispute. It's a matter of semantics."

Read the full article, A New Way of Looking at Heart Disease and Novel Treatment Options, at mercola.com.