American Heart Association: Cardiovascular Disease Statistics
CBS News: Heart Disease And Women / By Caitlin A. Johnson
Oprah.com / Dr. Oz talks to Dr. Esselstyn about CHD basic principles
CBS News: Heart Disease And Women / By Caitlin A. Johnson
Oprah.com / Dr. Oz talks to Dr. Esselstyn about CHD basic principles
The picture on the right is an actual angiogram from Dr. Esselstyn's data depicting the improvement associated with his therapy or treatment. Dr. Esselstyn's CHD reversal program includes a strict diet plan that is plant-based. His diet is vegetarian or vegan.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, July 23/30, 2003
The New England Journal of Medicine, 1985; 313,52
The New England Journal of Medicine, 1985; 313,52
Additional reading and references
Coronary Heart Disease Reversal and Nutrition
There are, at long last, some very good news for people who have been diagnosed with coronary heart disease or have suffered a heart attack ( M.I. ). Many patients (most patients) are still unaware of an important fact: More often than not, you do not have to sit and watch helplessly the progression of the disease. Coronary heart disease can now be reversed to some significant degree. The therapy may add years and even decades to one's life and restore quality of life. The best techniques and methods that are the path to successful CHD reversal are usually some form of combination therapy.
Medical intervention ( angioplasty or other procedures) and the prescription of drugs such as Lipitor and Crestor, when combined with the appropriate nutrition or diet can make the big difference between the progression of the disease and its actual reversal or regression. Over the past decades, in an attempt to answer the question “How to best treat or How to best cure heart disease?”, some clinicians and researchers have been able to develop methods that achieve such reversal goals.
New research (the Harvard Medical School) now demonstrates clearly that medication and improved (heart healthy) nutrition work independently of each other, so that the benefits of one therapy are actually ADDED on top of the benefits of the other. For example, if your medication, alone, yields a 38% improvement and your improved diet, alone, yields a 19% improvement, your total improvement will be 38 + 19 or an impressive 57%. The improved survival rates are even more impressive !
Medical intervention ( angioplasty or other procedures) and the prescription of drugs such as Lipitor and Crestor, when combined with the appropriate nutrition or diet can make the big difference between the progression of the disease and its actual reversal or regression. Over the past decades, in an attempt to answer the question “How to best treat or How to best cure heart disease?”, some clinicians and researchers have been able to develop methods that achieve such reversal goals.
New research (the Harvard Medical School) now demonstrates clearly that medication and improved (heart healthy) nutrition work independently of each other, so that the benefits of one therapy are actually ADDED on top of the benefits of the other. For example, if your medication, alone, yields a 38% improvement and your improved diet, alone, yields a 19% improvement, your total improvement will be 38 + 19 or an impressive 57%. The improved survival rates are even more impressive !
The nutritional approaches taken by these clinicians do bear some similar features: the intake of saturated fat is always minimal; the intake of wholegrain cereals and legumes is encouraged as well as a large intake of fruits and vegetables. It is no coincidence if the ingredients chosen to be part of the recipes given as examples on our web site (and external hM articles) are mostly wholegrain cereals, very lean sources of protein and a profusion of vegetables and fruits.
On one hand, some of the above mentioned clinicians and researchers have now seen their versions of combination therapies documented with either angiograms or P.E.T. scans, the kind of evidence one can hardly argue with ! On the other hand, the data from major medical and scientific trials conducted on the efficacy of the prescribed medication also tend to prove them right. The drugs prescribed by those cardiologists are often of the "statin" group. Statin drugs work by reducing the production of LDL-Cholesterol by the liver. In one of the studies involving just over 500 patients, it was found that in those patients treated with an aggressive daily dose of 80 mg of atorvastatin (Lipitor) the atheroma volume (plaque build-up in the arteries) had regressed from 0.625 mm to 0.591 mm on average. This is a clear indication that not only has the progression of coronary heart disease been stopped but also that it has been rolled back or reversed to some degree. Those are very good news indeed. At long last there are now “ways and means” to reverse this affliction. Describing in detail their nutritional recommendations and the medical techniques and methods would require a massive book rather than one article. However, in this series of articles, we will present, over the next few months, the basic principles. We will start with the lessons to be drawn from Dr. Collin Campbell's "The China Study", uncovering why some areas of the world are virtually free of coronary heart disease. We will, in the following issues describe what those researchers and clinicians recommend as the best ways to halt and reverse coronary heart disease.
CONCLUSION : the evidence supporting combination therapy (medical treatment + the best of heart-healthy diets) in order to reverse coronary heart disease can be summarized by the following:
On one hand, some of the above mentioned clinicians and researchers have now seen their versions of combination therapies documented with either angiograms or P.E.T. scans, the kind of evidence one can hardly argue with ! On the other hand, the data from major medical and scientific trials conducted on the efficacy of the prescribed medication also tend to prove them right. The drugs prescribed by those cardiologists are often of the "statin" group. Statin drugs work by reducing the production of LDL-Cholesterol by the liver. In one of the studies involving just over 500 patients, it was found that in those patients treated with an aggressive daily dose of 80 mg of atorvastatin (Lipitor) the atheroma volume (plaque build-up in the arteries) had regressed from 0.625 mm to 0.591 mm on average. This is a clear indication that not only has the progression of coronary heart disease been stopped but also that it has been rolled back or reversed to some degree. Those are very good news indeed. At long last there are now “ways and means” to reverse this affliction. Describing in detail their nutritional recommendations and the medical techniques and methods would require a massive book rather than one article. However, in this series of articles, we will present, over the next few months, the basic principles. We will start with the lessons to be drawn from Dr. Collin Campbell's "The China Study", uncovering why some areas of the world are virtually free of coronary heart disease. We will, in the following issues describe what those researchers and clinicians recommend as the best ways to halt and reverse coronary heart disease.
CONCLUSION : the evidence supporting combination therapy (medical treatment + the best of heart-healthy diets) in order to reverse coronary heart disease can be summarized by the following:
The picture on the right shows actual P.E.T. scans from Dr. Gould's data depicting the improvement in perfusion associated with combination therapy. We will not go into the details of perfusion. Suffice to say that the top row represents the initial poor perfusion (prevalence of red and orange, prior to treatment) ant that five years later good perfusion had returned (prevalence of blue and green) as proven by the bottom row. Dr. Gould's treatment program includes a diet plan that is also very low-fat.
The graph on the right presents data from twelve clinical trials or studies showing the relationship between the level of reduction of LDL-Cholesterol associated with treatment and the reduction in the degree of arterial occlusion. Please note that at a given level it starts to reverse. (from the excellent lipidsonline.com website, i.e. Baylor College of Medicine, one of the very best sites for reliable information and clinical data, complete with slides and graphs from major epidemiological studies)
Those graphs and stuff are fine, but how well does this work in a real "guinea pig" person. The data below was provided by a person who suffers from hyperlipidemia (familial hypercholesterolemia). He now has four metal stents implanted in his arteries in order to keep them open. After the intervention, he has embarked on a dietary regimen that is a hybrid of all of the above-mentioned diet plans and programs. His cardiologist, Dr. Derek Paul Rahal MD, is very aggressive when it comes to treating coronary heart disease. Dr. Rahal is a graduate of McGill University Medical School (one of the very best medical faculties on this planet). Dr. Rahal can sometimes be seen on the ward with a flock of medical students following him. Dr. Rahal has prescribed 80 mg atorvastatin (Lipitor) and 500 mg niacin, daily. The blood test results are almost incredible. In fact, combo machines, such as the ones bought in drugstores, reported the cholesterol to be under 115 mg/dL i.e: 3.0 millimole/L or much too low to be measured by these devices, the screen just said: " LO ". The machines at the Royal Victoria Hospital (a McGill University teaching hospital) did succeed in measuring it. With the person's permission, we publish the results of a lab report ( July 10, 2007). Total Cholesterol : 114 mg/dL or 2.94 mmol/L (the population average is 181 mg/dL or 4.7 mmol/L), LDL (bad) Cholesterol was a wonderfully low 48 mg/dL or 1.24 mmol/L (population average is 108 mg/dL or 2.20 to 3.40 mmol/L). Combination therapy (medication + diet) does indeed work wonders in real people. The heartMonitron Journals hereby certify the above stated results to be absolutely and rigorously exact. They were obtained from the Archives Department. of the rightly famed Royal Victoria Hospital on March 20th, 2008; they are published with the enthusiastic and express consent of the concerned individual.
1- AHA Journals, Circulation. "Lipid Lowering by Simvastatin Induces Regression of Human Atherosclerotic Lesions" 2002;106:2884
2- Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "Optimal Low-Density Lipoprotein is 50 to 70 mg/dl" 2004;43;2142-2146
3- The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, "Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease" www.uth.tmc.edu
4- Journal of the American College of Cardiology, " Combined Intense Lifestyle and Pharmacological Treatment Further Reduce Coronary Events..." 2003;41:263-272
5- Colin T Campbell MD, "The China Study"
6- Cornell University and Oxford: "The China Report"
7- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - a Harvard teaching hospital : Diet helps control cholesterol.
8- The Lifestyle Heart Trial, Ornish D, Brown SE, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, McLanahan SM, Kirkeeide RL, Brand RJ, Gould KL. The Abstract / http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470?dopt=Abstract
2- Journal of the American College of Cardiology. "Optimal Low-Density Lipoprotein is 50 to 70 mg/dl" 2004;43;2142-2146
3- The University of Texas Medical School at Houston, "Preventing and Reversing Heart Disease" www.uth.tmc.edu
4- Journal of the American College of Cardiology, " Combined Intense Lifestyle and Pharmacological Treatment Further Reduce Coronary Events..." 2003;41:263-272
5- Colin T Campbell MD, "The China Study"
6- Cornell University and Oxford: "The China Report"
7- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center - a Harvard teaching hospital : Diet helps control cholesterol.
8- The Lifestyle Heart Trial, Ornish D, Brown SE, Scherwitz LW, Billings JH, Armstrong WT, Ports TA, McLanahan SM, Kirkeeide RL, Brand RJ, Gould KL. The Abstract / http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973470?dopt=Abstract
The hM Nutrition Journal contains articles and recipes relative to Cooking Methods and Food Selection for the Improvement of Health, Management of Heart Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, High Cholesterol, and the Maintenance of a Healthy Weight / including Computer Assisted Diet Planning and Nutrition Analysis. hM strongly recommends using the information and healthy recipes provided on this website under the professional supervision of your doctor or registered dietitian . Whether you are seeking to improve your general health, reverse heart disease, control diabetes or your weight, always assume that getting professional advice from your MD or RD is best.
Coronary Heart Disease Reversal
A recent example of a heart-friendly “How to” diet plan would be Dr. David Jenkins' Portfolio diet. His treatment program was found to be very effective, especially in reducing LDL-cholesterol.
A study was conducted by a team from a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital
( The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) to see what happens when you combine such a diet with the use of statin drugs. The effects were found to be additive.
They have titled their conclusions: "Diet helps statin drugs lower cholesterol." See image on the right.
These are great news for people who wish to halt or reverse heart disease. At long last there are now easy and non-invasive ways of treatment, techniques and methods that can successfully treat and reverse CHD. Please, don't just sit and wait for the cat to bark ...Take charge now !
NGBeditor
A study was conducted by a team from a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital
( The Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) to see what happens when you combine such a diet with the use of statin drugs. The effects were found to be additive.
They have titled their conclusions: "Diet helps statin drugs lower cholesterol." See image on the right.
These are great news for people who wish to halt or reverse heart disease. At long last there are now easy and non-invasive ways of treatment, techniques and methods that can successfully treat and reverse CHD. Please, don't just sit and wait for the cat to bark ...Take charge now !
NGBeditor
the hM NewsWire
Contents of Article
>> 1 - Intro: Possiblity of Reversal
>> 2 - Nathan Pritikin, a Pioneer
>> 3 - The Influence of Nutrition
>> 4 - Dr. Colin T Campbell PhD
>> 5 - Dr. Dean Ornish MD
>> 6 - Dr Caldwell B Esseltsyn MD
>> 7 - Dr Lance K Gould MD
>> 8 - Dr David Jenkins MD
>> 11 - Efficiency of Combination
>> 10 - What is the Evidence
>> 12 - References
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This comprehensive desk reference will benefit nutrition and cardiovascular researchers, primary care physicians, and dietitians in the race to reduce this deadly disease. CRC Press,
Nutrition and Heart Disease: Causation and Prevention
by Dr Ronald Ross Watson PhD
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by Dr Ronald Ross Watson PhD
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A "How to" Book - Nutrition and Diet Plan. Describes Heart Disease Reversal and Prevention Program and identifies what foods to eat and what foods not eat.
How to "Heal your Heart"
Author: K Lance Gould MD
Author: K Lance Gould MD
Category : Books - Nutrition -
Large epidemiological study shows correlation between diet and Heart Disease
Large epidemiological study shows correlation between diet and Heart Disease
"The China Study" Author:
T Colin Campbell PhD
T Colin Campbell PhD
Book describes Dr. Ornish's Complete Heart Disease Reversal Treatment Program - Including Nutrition & Diet plan,with sample recipes
Read
"Dr Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease"
Author: Dean Ornish MD
"Dr Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease"
Author: Dean Ornish MD
Book describes Dr Esselstyn's treatment program for Coronary Heart Disease Prevention and Reversal, Covers Nutrition & Diet Plan, with sample recipes
Discover
How to "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" Author:
Caldwell B Esselstyn MD
How to "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease" Author:
Caldwell B Esselstyn MD
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The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center
The Cleveland Clinic Heart Center
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hM NewsWire Links
Combining heart-healthy nutrition or diet with medical treatment may be best in order to successfully treat and even reverse the evolution of coronary heart disease (CHD, also called coronary artery disease, CAD) .
A heartMonitron Journal - Published for Educational Purposes, only your Doctor can provide advice
Heart Attack Proof, CAD / CHD Prevention and Reversal with Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, MD
A happy patient talks about his experience
A happy patient talks about his experience
Collection of Information Books and CookBooks for the Reversal, Care and prevention of Coronary Heart Disease
Can the Best Medical Treatment, When Combined with the Best Cardiac-Oriented Diet and Nutrition, Make The Big Difference ? - Part I
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2- A PIONEER WHO TRIED ... AND DISCOVERED SOMETHING. HE PAVED THE WAY !
1- ABSTRACT - the good news: CHD / CAD is now reversible ! More often than not.
Although not a physician himself, one of the grand pioneers was certainly Nathan Pritikin who was said to have cured and reversed his own heart disease in the 1950's. After having had a heart attack, Nathan Pritikin untertook to develop his own special diet. According to The New England Journal of Medicine, in 1985, when he passed away (long after his heart attack), his arteries were found, on autopsy, to be relatively free of the disease. Stunningly, his arteries were also found to be soft and pliable. His legacy is The Pritikin Longevity Center. ( www.pritikin.com ) The Pritikin organization claims to achieve coronary heart disease reversal mainly by nutritional or dietary means. Pritikin may well have traced a sort of road-map titled "How to Reverse Heart Disease with the right diet or heart-healthy nutrition. ( hM on Pritikin: the program may work well with strong-responders to dietary treatment, but may not be enough with weak-responders. Consequently, the taking of medication should not be stopped ).
3- The Beneficial Effects of heart-healthy nutrition. The search for the right foods and diet is on:
The medical and scientific community had also been looking into the effect of a suitable nutrition on cardiovascular disease. In this article, heartMonitron will be paying particular attention to today's top authorities on reversal therapy. Invariably, the diets that were found to the best and most efficient have ended up putting the emphasis on "real" foods and discouraging the intake of heavily industrially processed foods or junk foods. Those clinicians and researchers have now demonstrated that you do not have to sit and watch the disease progress but that you can successfully halt its progression and even roll it back.
4- Dr. COLIN T CAMPBELL PhD, "The China Study" / Surveying the eating habits of large population groups that were free of heart disease.
Dr. COLIN T CAMPBELL PhD, Author of: The China Study. In this landmark study, Dr. Campbell relates geographical areas free of heart
disease with their traditional diet. Dr. Campbell's findings point to populations (comprising millions of people) who experience less
than five percent (only 1/20th !) the rate of cardiovascular disease experienced in the American population. The other surprise was
that these populations seemed almost free from type 2 diabetes and that obesity was virtually non-existent. The
bulk of their diet is made up of "whole" foods such as whole grains, lean sources of protein with plenty of fruits and vegetables. The
epidemiological data provided by the China Report was gathered over decades. The study was supported by universities such as Oxford
and Cornell and by the Chinese government. The data is considered as most reliable. It is viewed as a basis to design efficient nutritional
or dietary means of treatment to achieve coronary heart disease reversal. The New York Times has coined the study as being "The
Grand Prix of Epidemiology".
5- Dr. DEAN ORNISH MD, "The Lifestyle Heart Trial" reveals dramatic decline in patient's heart event rates (myocardial infarction and others).
Dr. DEAN ORNISH MD, (Director : The Preventive Medicine Research Institute, Professor of Medicine : The UCSF School of Medicine). He his one of the leading proponents of a daily diet that promotes nutrition principles that closely match those introduced by The China Study. Dr. Ornish is an advocate of lifestyle changes (no more than 10% of calories coming from fat, whole foods, vegetarian diet, smoking cessation, exercise and stress management). A famed published scientific study called "The Lifestyle Heart Trial" has validated the nutritional principles: "Overall, 82% of experimental-group patients had an average change towards regression. Comprehensive lifestyle changes may be able to bring about regression of even severe coronary atherosclerosis after only 1 year", The techniques and treatment methods advocated by Dr. Ornish have been cited in several publications - see: The Journal of the American Medical Association Vol 280 No 23 Dec 16 1998
6- Dr. CALDWELL B ESSELSTYN MD, Researcher : The Cleveland Clinic. His strict program and diet causes the actual regression of CHD
Dr. CALDWELL B ESSELSTYN MD, Researcher : The Cleveland Clinic. Dr Esselstyn uses a strict nutritional approach to treat CAD and achieve coronary heart disease reversal. The claimed results are impressive: "Cardiac events: The 17 patients in the study had 49 cardiac events in the years leading up to the study, and had undergone aggressive treatment procedures. Several had multiple bypass operations. After beginning the eating plan, there were no more cardiac events in the group within a 12-year period." Viewing the angiograms of his follow-up volunteer patients is also very convincing. His angiograms illustrate and prove the reversibility of coronary heart disease in most instances. Angiography is a special imaging technique allowing cardiologists to view the heart and the arteries that supply it with blood. The angiograms provided by Dr. Esselstyn illustrate the improvement of blood flow in patients' coronary arteries after a period of therapy. Those angiograms (they look a bit like x-rays) are a good demonstration of actual coronary heart disease reversal. Of course, his dietary recommendations do not include potato chips, hot dogs with a swimming pool full of cola. Dr. Esselstyn would rather have you eat "real food": the whole vegetable patch with plenty of unrefined wholegrain and very lean sources of protein ! Dr. Esselstyn is an advocate very low-fat diets and of plant-based nutrition (a very strict - no oil, no meat -, low-fat, vegetarian or vegan diet).
7- Dr. LANCE K GOULD MD, Professor of Medicine/Cardiology, University of Texas Medical School. Scans prove the efficacy of the diet.
Dr. LANCE K GOULD MD, Professor of Medicine/Cardiology, The University of Texas Medical School. As for method of treatment, Dr. Gould is also a strong advocate of a very low fat diet in combination with lipid reducing and anti-cholesterol drugs. It is heartMonitron's belief that future epidemiological studies will prove this approach to be the best way to treat or reverse CHD. This prediction is not hard to make, given that positron emission tomography ( PET Scans) has already clearly illustrated the far improved perfusion of the heart. According to Dr. Gould, the combination of a very low fat diet and lipid-reducing and anti-cholesterol drugs can reduce a person's risk of a heart attack by 90% or more. The Pet scans of Dr Gould's follow-up patients show in colorful ways this markedly improved perfusion (improved blood flow in the arteries of the heart) after a period of five years of therapy. These scans are a graphic illustration of coronary heart disease reversal.
8- Dr. DAVID J A JENKINS, MD, PhD, Director/Clinical Nutrition, St-Michael's Hospital / similar techniques, same good results.
Dr. DAVID J A JENKINS, MD, PhD, Director/Clinical Nutrition, St-Michael's Hospital, The University of Toronto Medical School. The results of the study he conducted in 2003 prove the concept and validate the theories advanced by Drs. Gould, Esselstyn and Ornish for the treatment and reversal of CHD.
9- Dr. Michael Miller (University of Maryland) has a different approach / allows the "good fats" and some lean animal protein
Dr. Michael Miller (University of Maryland Medical Shcool) has a different approach as to how to treat or care for CHD.. He is not as strict regarding fats. He differentiates between the good fats, like mono-unsaturated, and the very bad fats, like saturated and -trans. He allows a certain amount of the good fats in the diet. He also allows fish and some meat, lean meat ...NOT regular ground beef! Dr. Michael Miller favors a Mediterranean -style diet.
10- WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE? And what foods do these people eat to cure or reverse heart disease ? What about my medication ?
11- EFFICIENCY (QUANTIFIED), Effects of combination therapy.
12 - REFERENCES:
>> 9 - Dr. Michael Miller
Links to full-text articles on the hM NewsWire are provided at the bottom of this page
Diets for Medical Conditions
Heart Disease Diet Plan
by Charlotte Lawson RD,
a dietitian's nutritional guidelines.
"What foods to eat and not to eat to prevent heart disease"
Heart Disease Diet Plan
by Charlotte Lawson RD,
a dietitian's nutritional guidelines.
"What foods to eat and not to eat to prevent heart disease"
Based on a selection of heart healthy foods like deboned and skinless chicken, lean meat, fish,
beans and legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fat-free or low-fat dairy products and substitutes to make delicious fat-free sauces and gravy.
beans and legumes, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fat-free or low-fat dairy products and substitutes to make delicious fat-free sauces and gravy.
