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Plaque
Plaque
Plaque. That's the culprit. Cholesterol and fat deposits on the walls of your arteries and blood vessels. That's arterial narrowing. Atherosclerosis, the official name. A typical condition resulting from this narrowing is angina pectoris. If that plaque ruptures, a clot can form. This creates a blockage and thus a heart attack.
No one will dispute that the deposition of cholesterol and/or fats causes atherosclerosis; but why is there so much cholesterol/fat in the blood? We've known that for 100 years. The fact that cardiovascular disease was virtually nonexistent in cultures that primarily ate a plant-based diet was already a good indication*.
Angina Pectoris = pain in the chest, compressing feeling because there is not enough oxygen supplied to the heart due to narrowing of arteries
*Shaper AG, Jones KW. Serum-cholesterol, diet, and coronary heart-disease in Africans and Asians in Uganda: 1959. Int J Epidemiol. 2012 Oct;41(5):1221-5. doi: 10.1093/ije/dys137
Once again, it has nothing to do with genetic predisposition, as immigration studies show; people from rural China or Japan (where cardiovascular disease was rare and where the diet was primarily plant-based) who move to a Western city are, just like everyone else, more likely to develop Western diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.
We're catching it early. While symptoms of cardiovascular disease often don't manifest until later in life, atherosclerosis can begin at a very young age. Even before puberty.
So… where does the cholesterol that adheres to blood vessel walls come from?
LDL cholesterol
LDL cholesterol
Low-Density Lipoprotein cholesterol in your blood is what allows plaque to form. How do you avoid this LDL? Avoid trans fats, saturated fats, and avoid foods high in cholesterol. Trans fats: found in processed products, meat, and dairy. Saturated fats: found mainly in animal products and junk food, and cholesterol is only found in animal products, especially eggs.
Fat and cholesterol were considered the culprits. But in 1959, a study published this finding: the more animal protein on the diet, the more cardiovascular disease. Moreover, countless experiments show that the more animal protein (casein) you eat, the higher the cholesterol in the blood, and the more vegetable protein, the lower the cholesterol.
Because animal products are full of animal protein, fat, and cholesterol, it's not just one nutrient, but all three that indicate how harmful animal products are to your health.
Benfante R Studies of cardiovascular disease and cause-specific mortality trends in Japanese-American men living in Hawaii and risk factor comparisons with other Japanese populations in the Pacific region: a review. Hum Biol. 1992 Dec;64(6):791-805.
Voller RD Jr, Strong WB. Pediatric aspects of atherosclerosis. Am Heart J. 1981 Jun;101(6):815-36.
Mina M. Benjamin, MD and William C. Roberts, MD Facts and principles learned at the 39th Annual Williamsburg Conference on Heart Disease. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2013 Apr; 26(2): 124–136.
McMahan CA, Gidding SS, Malcom GT, Tracy RE, Strong JP, McGill HC Jr; Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth Research Group.Pathobiological determinants of atherosclerosis in youth risk scores are associated with early and advanced atherosclerosis. Pediatrics. 2006 Oct;118(4):1447-55.
OLLIFFE N, ARCHER M. Statistical associations between international coronary heart disease death rates and certain environmental factors. J Chronic Dis. 1959 Jun;9(6):636-52.
Sirtori CR, Noseda G, and Descovich GC. “Studies on the use of a soybean protein diet for the management of human hyperlipoproteinemias.” In: MJGibney and D Kritchevsky (eds.) Current topics in nutrition and disease, Volume 8: animal and vegetable. Proteins in lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis, pp. 135-148. New-York. Alan R. Liss, 1983
Because high blood cholesterol levels are a profitable business, most healthcare providers opt for prescribing medications like statins, rather than adjusting diets. And because surgical procedures like bypasses are profitable and performed on a regular basis, we think it's simply part of the job.
A little plaque? Just get an angioplasty (cleaning the arteries with "a balloon").
If that doesn't work anymore? Bypass! Single, double, triple, quadruple, death.
More than half a million bypass surgeries are performed annually in the US. This undoubtedly generates significant revenue for those performing the surgery, but what is the cost to society? And that's not even considering the simple way to prevent this condition!
A bypass isn't the holy grail either; there are often side effects, and if the patient doesn't adjust their lifestyle, they'll be back at the heart surgeon's office after three years with chest pain.**
Hardly any attention is paid to the cause of cardiovascular disease.
Hardly any attention is paid to the cause of cardiovascular disease.
Even though it is preventable AND curable.
**Page 1320 in Gersch, BJ, Braunwald, E, and Rutherford JD. "Chronic coronary artery disease." In: E. Braunwald (ed.) Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. Vol. 2 (5th ed.) pp. 1289-1365. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders, 1997
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: heart disease is not only preventable,
but also reversible.
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn: heart disease is not only preventable,
but also reversible.
In 1985, this cardiac surgeon began a study aimed at lowering patients' cholesterol levels. Eighteen patients followed his dietary guidelines (avoiding oil, meat, fish, poultry, and dairy). His patients were not healthy at the start of the study; a staggering 49 incidents had occurred in the eight years before the study began: from angina to heart attacks to bypass surgery.
Not only did their cholesterol—especially LDL—drop dramatically during the study years, but in the following 11 years, all patients were cured of their cardiovascular disease!
One patient had a seizure, but he hadn't adhered to his prescribed diet for two years.
If you'd like to read more, see his research:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2100124/
Esselstyn CB Jr1, Ellis SG, Medendorp SV, Crowe TD. A strategy to arrest and reverse coronary artery disease: a 5-year longitudinal study of a single physician's practice. J Fam Pract. 1995 Dec;41(6):560-8.
Introduction: More Than Coronary Artery Disease
http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/study07/
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn has demonstrated that treating the symptoms of cardiovascular disease with medication and surgery is pointless when the disease can be simply avoided, stopped, and reversed by following a whole-foods, plant-based way of eating.
What are you waiting for?
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