Out-of-the-box approach to breakfast champions heart health

A New York cardiologist views her appearance on a cereal box as a way to promote women's cardiac health.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Dec. 6, 2004.

At this point in her career, Nieca Goldberg, MD, does not see herself on the front of a Wheaties box, a place often reserved for the greatest athletes.

"It's a little too late for me to think about becoming an Olympic athlete," joked Dr. Goldberg, a 5-foot-1½-inch cardiologist in New York City.

But winning gold medals and championship rings are not the only way to get on a cereal box. Dr. Goldberg's expertise in heart health is landing her likeness on grocery store shelves and America's breakfast tables.

In January 2005, Dr. Goldberg will appear on several million boxes of Wheat Chex and Multi-Bran Chex cereals. Her photo on the cover of her book, Women Are Not Small Men: Life-Saving Strategies for Preventing and Healing Heart Disease in Women, will be featured on the back of the cereal boxes. Tips about physical activity and proper diet also will be included.

"I happen to eat cereal and happen to read cereal boxes. I read everything in front of me," said Dr. Goldberg, chief of women's cardiac care at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.

She hopes other women share the breakfast-reading habit.

"We have to think outside the box of how we're going to reach women. Being on the table the first thing in the morning will give women something to think about and, hopefully, they will take it to heart," said Dr. Goldberg, a board member of the American Heart Assn.'s New York chapter and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the New York University School of Medicine.