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Health See other Health Articles Title: Heart disease - a condition of choice? Saker poster... “If the truth be known coronary artery disease is a toothless paper tiger that need never ever exist and if it does exist it need never ever progress.” Q&A with Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D. Question: What is coronary heart disease? Answer: Coronary heart disease is the leading killer of woman and men in western civilization. It is predicated to become the #1 global disease burden by 2020. It consists of an inflammatory buildup of blockages in arteries to the heart muscle. These blockages are made of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and inflammatory cells. Blockages can become severe enough to cause symptoms such as shortness of breath or chest pain (angina). When blockages suddenly become complete, the portion of heart muscle fed by that blocked artery is now deprived of oxygen and nutrients, thus it is injured or now dies. This is a heart attack. The patient may survive or succumb if the event is accompanied by a fatal heart rhythm. Question: Who develops heart disease? Answer: Everyone eating the typical western diet. In autopsy studies of our GI’s who died in the Vietnam and Korean wars almost 80% at an average age of 20 years, had disease that could be seen without a microscope. Forty years later in 1999, a study of young persons between the ages of 16-34 years who have died of accidents, homicides and suicides, finds the disease is now ubiquitous. Question: What is the cause of the disease? Answer: It is the typical western diet of processed oils, dairy, and meat which destroys the lifejacket of our blood vessels known as our endothelial cells. This cell layer is a one cell thick lining of all of our blood vessels. Endothelial cells manufacture a magical protective molecule of gas called nitric oxide, which protects our blood vessels. It keeps our blood flowing smoothly, it is the strongest dilator (widener), of our blood vessels, it inhibits the formation of blockages (plaques), and t inhibits inflammation. Question: With such natural protection why do we ever develop heart disease? Answer: Every western meal of processed vegetable oils, dairy products, and meat (including chicken and fish) injures these endothelial cells. As individuals consume theses damaging products throughout their lives, they have fewer functioning endothelial cells remaining and thus less of the protective nitric oxide. Without enough nitric oxide the plaque blockages build up and grow creating eventually heart disease and strokes. Question: Can it be stopped or even reversed? Answer: Yes. First we must look at the lessons learned from cultures where there is a virtual absence of coronary artery heart disease such as rural China, the Papua Highlands of New Guinea, Central Africa, and the Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico. Their nutrition is plant based without oil. Beginning in 1985 I initiated a study of seriously ill coronary artery disease patients. Their nutrition became plant based without oil. Their cholesterol levels plummeted. Their angina disappeared. Their weight dropped. I have reported this study at 5 years, 12 years, and 16 years, in the peer reviewed scientific literature and again beyond 20 years in my book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In some of the patients we had follow up angiograms (x-rays) of previously blocked arteries demonstrating striking disease reversal, which is a testament to my often quoted statement “The truth be known coronary artery disease is a toothless paper tiger that need never exist and if it does exist it need never progress.” The greatest gift to these patients is the increasing recognition that they are the locus of control for their disease – not some pill or procedure. They have made themselves heart attack proof and lose the greatest fear of all heart patients and their families – when will the next heart attack occur? Question: What about drugs, stents, and heart bypass surgery? Answer: Admittedly in the midst of a heart attack a stent or bypass may be live saving, however, for the remaining 90% studies confirm that they do not prevent future heart attacks or prolong life. They are associated with significant complications such as hemorrhage, heart attack, stroke, cognitive decline, depression, and death. The benefits erode with the passage of time as the stents and bypasses may themselves develop blockage. Some drugs may decrease blood pressure and the heart workload. Others interfere with clotting which helps a stent remain open. Statin drugs lower cholesterol. None of these drugs or interventions addresses the basic causation of disease and not surprisingly the disease progresses with the need for more drugs, stents, and repeat bypasses. Question: Why aren’t physicians using nutrition therapy? Answer: Most physicians have no training or understanding of the power of nutrition. In a busy practice they would not have the time for it. It is my belief that physicians must accord the plant based lifestyle transition its due. Every patient with cardiovascular disease should be referred to a physician or nurse practitioner with the knowledge and expertise in these counselling skills. Question: But I understand physicians don’t feel patients will make this transition. How come? Answer: Nutrition counselling is a skill which physicians don’t possess. Of all the encounters a patient with cardiovascular disease experiences, perhaps the least time and lowest priority is nutritional counselling. I see many patients with heart disease who recount that nutrition was never even mentioned. It is therefore unlikely that the patient feels that nutrition is important. Question: What is that you do differently? Answer: In an intensive 5 hour counselling session for a group of heart patients my first priority is to eliminate the mystery of what causes their disease. It has not been stress, or genes. It is their western diet of processed oil, dairy, and meat. Hypertension, diabetes, and smoking must be controlled but food trumps all. I spend at least an hour defining the protective role of endothelial cells and nitric oxide functioning as the ultimate guardians of our blood vessels. They quickly understand that their lifetime of ingesting these harmful products has totally overwhelmed and destroyed their endothelium to an extent where it is unable to protect them. They fully grasp that they must forever eliminate ingesting foods that will further destroy their already compromised endothelium. They understand heart disease is a food borne illness. Question: Where is the good news? Answer: They understand that they can halt their disease. They are presented with my scientific articles demonstrating reversal of disease. They learn that angina chest pain may diminish or disappear within 10-14 days in some patients while others may take longer. We share our data confirming reversal of carotid artery disease to the brain, coronary artery disease of the heart, peripheral vascular disease in the extremities, and the reversal of erectile dysfunction. They are made to appreciate how rapidly and powerfully the endothelial function may be restored. The most significant message in our counselling is patient awareness that they are empowered to be the locus of control of their disease. Question: What is your criticism of the present management of heart disease through drug stents and bypass surgery? Answer: It is expensive, dangerous, and ineffective. None of these approaches addresses the factors that cause the disease. A doctor would never treat poison ivy without advising the patient to avoid exposure to poison ivy plants. Sadly the usual treatment of cardiovascular disease almost never includes hours of patient counselling so they may completely eliminate the foods which are injuring their endothelium. Stents may block, bypass veins shut down, drug doses increase, and blood vessel disease worsen. The present cost of this non-treatment of heart disease is unsustainable even in our wealthy nation. Question: Dr. Esselstyn, are you a threat to the stenting and bypass industry? Answer: Not really. Stents and bypass surgery in an emergency setting are absolutely lifesaving. However, for non-emergency situations an intensive lifestyle trial of 3-6 months would eliminate the need for most interventions. It is of interest that when physicians and some interventional cardiologist themselves develop the disease they come knocking at my door. Question: What forces are lined against you? Answer: The government, drug industry, and some of my own profession. The USDA every five years produces a food triangle which promotes the very foods which guarantee that millions of Americans will perish. The drug industry has a $21 billion dollar income from statin drugs alone. The stent manufacturers make billions more. Neither of these companies would want this epidemic resolved. Physicians who perform stents and bypass surgery earn millions and are hardly clamouring for fewer patients. Question: Any final thoughts? Answer: When people learn to eat plant based to eliminate heart disease it could inaugurate a seismic revolution in health. Other diseases that resolve include obesity, hypertension, stroke, heart attacks, gall stones, diverticulitis, asthma, osteoporosis, allergies, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and a marked decrease in the common western cancers of breast, prostate, colon, endometrial, ovarian, and pancreatic. nice try.... @ Alex Cramer: There is one major missing piece of the nutritional puzzle in this pile of info. Modern humans are still genetically designed to consume what has been termed the paleo-diet, lots of lean game/meat, fish, with side dishes of raw or roasted vegetables and tree-ripened fruits/berries. What does this provide that the feed-lot meat, chemical-driven monoculture vegetables/fruits, large amounts of flour and sugar “western” diet does not? Then consider at least 70% of Americans are chronically on some prescription drug. The modern western diet is estimated to only provide 25-30% of the taurine intake of our paleo-ancestors. And it is only available in meats, fish and in lesser amounts in other animal products like eggs. The medical industry works hard to convince the public our bodies can metabolize sufficient amounts of taurine where low dietary amounts occur… that is total BS. We need to consume about 2-6 grams daily, nearly impossible considering current meat products contain about 50-75 mg per kg. There are NO natural vegetarian food sources of taurine, so much for the myth of a “proper” vegan/vegetarian diet providing all the nutrients our bodies need. The list of systems taurine works in is long, but how about a few key ones: moderates glucose handling (prevents diabetes), eye/retina, heart/blood vessels, liver, kidney, gall bladder, muscles, nerves, brain. In essence most long-term health issues may be traceable back to chronic taurine deficiency, right up to moderate depression and high blood pressure. Of course, taurine requires vitamin supplements (esp a B-complex and A) to work on all these system functions. Then look at the essential amino acid tryptophan which is the precursor to serotonins. Why do doctors prescribe any number of SSRI’s, SNRI’s, MAOI’s and other mood-altering drugs which operate around the serotonin system before ensuring the patient is getting sufficient tryptophan, taurine and vitamins? Because Big Pharma doesn’t make much money off amino acids and vitamins. But once the medical/pharma profession has a patient taking a cocktail of drugs for all the various ailments now so common, it is a bizarre and sometimes painful, emotionally dangerous path to wean off the drugs while gradually introducing taurine and amino acid supplements. The nutritional supplements often make the drugs more effective, essentially overdosing the patient. And some drugs are difficult to taper off, as they are in a time-release matrix pills that should not be cut. Now you know why Monsanto/Dupont, Big Pharma and the US/NATO Deep State are so keen to control all food/supplement sources. By controlling our food and the nutrients in it, they control our physical and mental health. Avoid the energy drinks taurine is most commonly found in, they are often loaded with caffeine, sugar and preservatives your body doesn’t need. smr... Read how little (and decreasing) time is devoted to the topic in medical school… now less than 20 hours… I’ll stack that up against my several hundred hours researching nutrition. articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-03-26/health/ct-met-heart-nutrition-20130326_1_mediterranean-style-diet-heart-disease-diet-and-nutrition “Despite a growing consensus that cardiovascular disease is a “food-borne” illness, many physicians are ill-prepared to advise patients on what they should eat to best protect them from heart attack or stroke.” “”There’s tremendous ignorance about nutrition among physicians,” added Dr. William Davis, a preventive cardiologist in Milwaukee. “It has never been part of the culture.” “On average, doctors receive 19 hours of total nutrition education in medical school; in 2004 the average was 22.3 hours, according to the study, conducted as part of the Nutrition in Medicine project at UNC. In 2009, 27 percent of the schools met the minimum standard of nutrition training, compared with 38 percent in 2004.” That article looks at the research on the positive impact on heart disease with the then-trendy (2003) Mediterranean Diet, but the same is true for paying attention to what our paleo-bodies require, not what Monsanto and Big Pharma thinks is best for us… or rather best for their profit margins and their role inside the Deep State. Now consider the long list of body processes and organs taurine and tryptophan are critically involved with… Getting this required basic nutrition supplementation is as simple as a couple times a day mixing in water or juice a 1-cup mixture of a tablespoon or two of quality whey isolate, a 1/2-tsp of taurine, and using that to swallow your daily multi-vitamin/mineral supplements. To complete the essentials, add a 1/2-tsp of processed collagen powder (from grass fed hides) to the mix, as there are few collagen/gelatin sources in our food these days. No complicated diet to follow, no guru to hang on their every word, no calories to count (that’s why the isolate is better than the cheaper standard whey powder). Just ensure your body gets the building blocks it needs and eat reasonably, avoiding the worst chemical laden crap as best you can afford. In Canada this month-long supplement experiment costs about $100.. I ask readers, what’s YOUR health worth? Or more to the point, the health of your children and grandchildren who have not yet been duped into the pharma-trap? Over 70% of North Americans are known to be on prescription medication (my experience would indicate that is nearly 90% for people over age 50). I challenge readers (warning!!!! thoroughly, REALLY thoroughly, check your list of meds for serious contraindications, a lot of common drugs (like SSRI’s, blood pressure meds) mean DON’T EVEN TRY on your own) to try this for a month and observe how much better you feel in a wide variety of ways. It’s just food (as long as the medical community hasn’t loaded your body with drugs that screw up your basic processes). How “hidden” is taurine from the public? The blogging software spell checker here at saker flags it as an unknown word. But the checker knows tryptophan… things than make ya go HHHHMMMM… It may take a while for your “Google” search to begin to find taurine references other than warnings about energy drinks and how taurine is not bull urine… don’t forget Google “tailors” results to what it “thinks” you want to know based on your other searches and cookies. I noticed that even my meta-search engine (not just Google) took about a week to begin to include actual research paper links Anonymous I’ve always wondered what the main reason is for the disastrous teeth in our societies, especially when you consider groups, like certain indigenous societies in Mexico and South America for example, who have a perfect set of teeth into advanced age and probably don’t even brush, let alone visit a dentist. _smr Too much white sugar and processed foods. Not enough animal fats and fat-solvable vitamins. Check Weston A. Price www.westonaprice.org/abcs-of-nutrition/ Kassandra... The good teeth of Mexican Indians are easily explained: Tortillas as basic nutrition are made of Nixtamal, which is extremly simple to prepare: You cook raw undried corn in water with lime stones (you may use calcium hydoxide, dead lime, as well) until you can peel off the skin of the corn easily and it has a consistency like hazelnuts. Then you mill it and form the torillas. That’s all, no spices, no salt, no additions, it is as simply as that. The lime in the water makes the Nixtamal sticky so you can easily form thin tortillas, and it gives the typical taste. Compared to that, wheat tortillias are trash. With Mexican tortillias as standard dish, your body gets constantly loaded with lots of calcium which means strong bones, hard teeth, no or little allergies, healthy cardiovuscular system. Jointly with frijoles negros as second central part of the traditional Mexican nutrition, you have all essential amino acids supplied by your daily dish. Add some salad plus chili for ascorbine acid and an endorphine kick, and you have your perfect and tasty food. Tom Welsh .... Curiously enough, the answer to your question about dental health has been known – and publicly – since about 1930. “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Dr Weston A. Price www.amazon.com/Nutrition-...1&keywords=weston+a+price Short abstract: Dr Price toured the world to examine people from over a dozen “primitive” communities (i.e. those still eating their traditional diets). From the Inuit to the Maori, from the descendants of the Inca in the Andes to the surviving Native Americans, none of them had any significant dental caries. Or any of the “White Man’s diseases” such as heart failure, stroke, atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, etc. Or any allergies. Their jaws were obviously wider, their jaw muscles far stronger, their teeth stronger and well spaced. Whenever such people began eating “government rations” (mainly white flour, sugar and such “luxuries” as tea and coffee) their health went to pieces within a few years, and their children were just as unhealthy as typical Westerners. cortisol... Vitamin K has been claimed to be pretty critical in keeping blood pathways clear, and preventing calcification in them. Especially if one takes Vitamin D supplements. I wouldn’t be surprised that modern RDI’s are way lacking, especially as big pharma has $100s billions at stake. Just saying. articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/05/14/vitamin-k-part-one.aspx www.thedrswolfson.com/vitamink/ Anonymous.... @ cortisol: Absolutely, for one or two specific issues, single-vitamin supplements in addition to a quality daily multivitamin/mineral routine. If only the single-vitamins are taken many trace vitamin/mineral requirements may be inadequate in a “regular” western diet. Adequate amino acids will help reduce the need for high specific vitamin additions like K to fix what chronic amino malnutrition causes. The Recommended Daily Allowances may not be all that low IF the body is properly nourished with basic building blocks like amino acids. Taurine actually works in cell walls throughout the body (hence why it is so prevalent in meats/fish flesh/organs), ensuring the proper balance during cell metabolism, for minerals like magnesium, potassium and calcium, plus nutrient/waste exchange from the cell fluids. Taurine specifically keeps blood vessel walls more flexible and resistant to accumulating unwanted material, plus helps keep the muscles surrounding the blood vessels from accumulating too much calcium which prevents them from dilating or contracting to help properly regulate blood pressure. Anonymous .... @ Blue: Unfortunately, high heat is the enemy of many bonded amino acids our bodies need. When coupled to the animal rights movement and “health” industry media push to tell us to save the planet by not eating, or eating less, meat/fish(mercury), the available taurine content in our food is further reduced. Humans are genetically, metabolistically omnivores, sorry for offending any vegans/vegetarians present. Those who choose not to eat any animal products must become highly knowledgeable to ensure they substitute for all amino acids, collagens, etc. most commonly found in the animal products of human omnivores. Taurine powder is synthetically derived, so no vegan issue there (mostly made for animal feed, so your cat’s kidneys don’t fail and their eyes are healthy), but most other amino acid supplements are whey-based, including tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, in that we must get it from food or supplements, otherwise low/no serotonin… can you say depression or anxiety disorders… which doctors then immediately hit you up with SSRI’s instead of tryptophan and B6 supplements. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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