Heart Disease In America – The Hidden Epidemic (WGBH)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Main Program: B+
In the
1970s before the science improved, there were American Heart Association public
service announcements left and right.
This dropped off in the 1980s while heart disease suddenly grew to being
the #1 killer in the country. Part of it
is from all kinds of food being cheap and super-sized. Another is the expediential rise of slick
advertising to sell the worst possible foods and drinks. Sure they taste good and who would not want
to consume anything they wanted. Heart Disease In America – The Hidden
Epidemic shows the downside of that and more.
Running
two hours including a great panel discussion with Larry King and experts on the
subject, the show goes to the beginning of the 20th Century and just
how unadvanced science was about heart disease.
The two hour program slowly charts the slow rise to understanding the
situation including an early first-of-its-kind long-term study of a town of
people just to chart their heart health.
Early
during this study, President Eisenhower had a heart attack, putting the issue
in the headlines for the first time. One
continuously disturbing problem is denial and how many millions it has
killed. People just do not want to
believe they can die from heart disease and it is still a major cause of such
deaths as you read this. However, it
looks like the science too a long time to catch up with the problem, with the
key development of micro-sensors that can fit into veins and arteries only
happening in the 1990s.
This is
an important program and the kind only public television seems to be able to
make. 23 Million of about 300 Million
suffer from heart disease and until those probes came about in the 1990s, the
amount of plaque inside an artery was not seeable and not even suspected. Now we know better, but additional factors
like health care costs, socio-economic status and the lack of insured add to
the problem. That is the subject of
another documentary, but Heart Disease
In America – The Hidden Epidemic is a must-see for everyone so they can
deal with one of the most undiscussed of issued. That needs to change.
The
letterboxed 1.78 X 1 is good for a documentary, but might have looked better if
anamorphically enhanced. Otherwise, it
is watchable and adequate. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo has no major surrounds, but plays back clearly enough. Extras include DVD-ROM PDF documents on
Heart-Healthy Recipes, 10 Easy Steps To A Healthier Diet from Reader’s Digest, a facts sheets on heart
disease and weblink, plus a direct interview with King about the problem.
- Nicholas Sheffo
