Broken Hearts

Please note that this section contains my personal notes from my readings on this topic.

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Over the next 24 hours, 3,000 Americans will have heart attacks, roughly the same number of people who perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

-– The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); page 111

Every 24 hours, almost 2,000 Americans will die from [heart] disease.

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; page 123

Malfunction of the heart and / or circulation system will kill 40% of Americans, more than those killed by any other injury or ailment, including cancer. Heart disease has been our number one cause of death for almost one hundred years.

… Women’s death rate from heart disease is eight times higher than their death rate from breast cancer.

–- The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); page 111

Click on American Soldier of Korean War to read about thought-provoking evidence on how early heart disease is developing.

We Have Some of the Highest Rates of Heart Disease in the World

Framingham is the most well-known heart study ever done, but it is merely one part of an enormous body of research conducted in this country over the past sixty years. Early research led to the alarming conclusion that we have some of the highest rates of heart disease in the world…

… The cultures that have lower heart disease rates eat less saturated fat and animal protein and more whole grains, fruits and vegetables. In other words, they subsist mostly on plant foods while we subsist mostly on animal foods.

… We know the cause is not genetics but is clearly environmental…

… In simple terms, animal foods were linked to higher blood cholesterol; plant foods were linked to lower blood cholesterol. This research clearly implicated diet as one possible cause of heart disease. Furthermore, the early results were painting a consistent picture: the more saturated fat and cholesterol (as indicators of animal food consumption) people eat, the higher their risk for getting heart disease. And as other cultures have come to eat more like us, they also have seen their rates of heart disease skyrocket. In more recent times, several countries have now come to have a higher death rate from heart disease than America.

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; pages 116 – 117

Animal Protein

In 1946, when the Framingham Study began, most scientists believed that heart disease was an inevitable part of aging, and nothing much could be done about it. While a cure for heart disease wasn’t found, he proved that something as simple as diet could significantly alter its course, even when the disease is so advanced that it has already caused a heart attack.

Another research group proved much the same thing at about that time… These doctors found that the patients who ate the low-fat, low-cholesterol diet could significantly prolong his or her life…

We now know that the attention paid to fat and cholesterol was misguided. The possibility that no one wanted to consider was that fat and cholesterol were merely indictors of animal food intake. The relationship between animal protein consumption and heart disease death in men aged 55 to 59 across twenty different countries suggests that the more animal protein you eat, the more heart disease you have.

In addition, dozens of experimental studies show that feeding animals animal protein (e.g. casein) dramatically raises cholesterol levels, whereas plant protein (e.g. soy protein) dramatically lowers cholesterol levels. Studies in humans not only mirror these findings, but show that eating plant protein has even greater power to lower cholesterol levels than reducing fat or cholesterol intake.

While some of these studies implicating animal protein were conducted in the past thirty years, others were published well over fifty years ago when the health world was first beginning to discuss diet and heart disease. Yet somehow animal protein has remained in the shadows while saturated fat and cholesterol have taken the brunt of the criticism.

– The China Study by Dr. Campbell; 2006; page 119

Do We Have An Answer for Heart Disease?

Between Dr. Ornish, Dr. Esselstyn and others before them, like Dr. Morrison, I believe that we have found the strategic link in our heart disease battle plan. Their dietary treatments not only relieve the symptoms of chest pain, but they also treat the cause of heart disease and can eliminate future coronary events. There are no surgical or chemical heart disease treatments, at the Cleveland Clinic or anywhere else, that can compare to these impressive results.

We now know enough to nearly eliminate heart disease. We know not only how to prevent the disease, but how to successfully treat it. We do not need to crack open our breast plates to reroute our arteries, and we do not need a lifetime of powerful drugs in our blood. By eating the right food, we can keep our hearts healthy.

–- The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); page 130

Become Informed and Take Ownership of Your Health

Much work remains to be done. The health care establishment is structured to profit from chemical and surgical intervention. Diet still takes the back seat to drugs and surgery. One criticism that is constantly leveled at the dietary argument is that patients will not make such fundamental changes…

Well-meaning institutions are not exempt from such closed-mindedness. The American Heart Association recommends a diet for heart disease that favors moderation, rather than scientific truth. The National Cholesterol Education Program does the same thing. These organizations pitch moderate diets with trivial changes as being healthy lifestyle “goals.” If you are at high risk for heart disease, or if you already have the disease, they recommend that you adopt a diet containing 30% of total calories as fat (7% of total calories as saturated fat) and less than 200 mg/day of dietary cholesterol. According to them, we should also keep our total blood cholesterol level under the “desirable” level of 200 mg/dL.

These venerable organizations are not giving the American public the most up-to-date scientific information. While we are told that a total blood cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL is “desirable”, we know that 35% of heart attacks strike Americans who have cholesterol levels between 150 and 200 mg/dL (a truly safe cholesterol level is under 150 mg/dL). We also know that the most aggressive reversal of heart disease ever demonstrated occurred when fat was about 10% of total calorie intake. Studies have clearly demonstrated that many patients who follow the more moderate government recommended diets see a progression of heart disease. The innocent victims are health-conscious Americans who follow these recommendations, keeping their total cholesterol around 180 or 190 mg/dL, only to be rewarded with a heart attack leading to a premature death.

… The fact is that a blood cholesterol level of 200 mg/dL is not safe, a 30% fat diet is not “low-fat,” and eating foods containing any cholesterol above 0 mg is unhealthy.

–- The China Study by Dr. Campbell (2006); pages 131 – 132

Eating a Whole Foods, Plant-Based Diet Can Prevent and Treat Heart Disease.

Dr. William Castelli, the long-time director of the Framingham Heart Study, a cornerstone of heart disease research, espouses a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Dr. Esselstyn, who has demonstrated the most significant reversal of heart disease in all of medical history, espouses a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Dr. Ornish, who has pioneered reversal of heart disease without drugs or surgery and proved widespread economic benefit for patients and insurance providers, espouses a whole foods, plant-based diet.

Now is a time of great hope and challenge, a time when people can control their health.

– Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study

Please read The China Study for much more information on this topic.

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The information contained throughout this blog / website should not be used as a substitute for the medical care and advice of your pediatrician / physician.