Dr. Arthur Agatston is a Medical Director at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in Florida and has an outstanding reputation in cardiology.

"My career in medicine has been largely devoted to the science of non-invasive cardiac imaging - the development of technology that produces sophisticated pictures of the heart and the coronary blood vessels. This allows us to identify problems and treat them early, before they cause heart attacks or strokes. In CT (computerized tomography) scanning all over the world, I'm proud to say, the measure of coronary calcium is called the Agatston Score, and the protocol for calcium screening is often referred to as the Agatston Method. I maintain an active, full-time cardiology practise, both clinical and research.

So how is it I am also responsible for a weight-loss programme that has become a phenomenon here in South Florida - a regime that's helped countless women and men, many of them in their twenties and thirties, young enough to be the grandchildren of my usual cardiology patients - get down to string bikini and Speedo swimming trunks shape?

I have to admit, I wasn't prepared to find myself on the receiving end of so much buzz. I'm now regularly stopped by people who have seen my TV news appearances or read about the diet's success in newspapers and magazines. Given the South Beach Diet's worldwide image as a mecca of physical beauty and body consciousness and its role as a chic outpost of the fashion industry, it's an unexpected position to find myself in.

This all started, however, as a serious medical undertaking. Back in the mid-nineties I was but one of many cardiologists who had grown disillusioned with the low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet recommended by the American Heart Association in order to help us all eat properly and maintain healthy weight. None of the low-fat regimes of that era seemed to work reliably, especially over the long haul. My concern was not with my patients' appearance, of course: I wanted to find a diet that would help prevent or reverse the myriad of heart and vascular problems that stem from obesity.

I never found such a diet. Instead, I developed one myself.

Today, I feel nearly as comfortable in the world of nutrition as I do among cardiologists. I speak regularly before physicians, researchers, and other health-care professionals who devote their lives to helping patients eat sensibly and lose weight. Although my interest in diet started from the therapeutic perspective, I see now that the cosmetic benefits of losing weight are extremely important because they so effectively motivate the young and the old - even more than the promise of a healthy heart, it often seems. The psychological lift that comes from an improved appearance benefits the entire person, and in turn keeps many a patient from backsliding - which, in the end, benefits cardiovascular health, my only goal when this journey began.

What started as a part-time foray into the world of nutrition has led me to devise a simple, medically sound diet that works, without stress, for a large percentage of those who try it, a programme that has been scientifically studied (as few diets ever are) and proven effective both for losing weight and for getting and keeping a healthy cardiovascular system."

An extract from the South Beach Diet