Can a Vegan diet REVERSE Heart Disease?!
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- Опубліковано 22 тра 2024
- It´s often claimed a vegan diet reverses heart disease. A bold claim, but is it accurate? Did Drs. Ornish and Esselstyn prove a vegan diet reverses heart disease?
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Full 1h30min video: • Medical Doctor Debunks...
Disclaimer: The contents of this video are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, nor to replace medical care. The information presented herein is accurate and conforms to the available scientific evidence to the best of the author's knowledge as of the time of posting. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions regarding any medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of information contained in Nutrition Made Simple!.
#NutritionMadeSimple #GilCarvalho
0:00 Introduction
1:08 The Esselstyn report
3:21 The Ornish trial
7:29 Mediterranean diet & Plaque reversal
9:39 The bottom line
Carefully monitored case study of 1 over 20 years here (me): because of congenital defects and damage from childhood virus + familial hyper hypercholesterolemia, I’ve had most of the imaging you can have on a heart over 30 years.
Age 47: moderate progression of plaques on an unstrict med diet (occasional deserts at family gatherings), to no detectable plaques at 68 on a strict vegan diet but with lots of nuts. Cholesterol controlled only with diet because I’m one of the unfortunates whose liver doesn’t like statins.
Encouraging but of course far from definitive.
Good to know , gives me encouragement after 40yrs of a builders English breakfast cafe diet , I can at the very least! stabilise my arteries , there is hope ! 👍🙂
I watch your videos, Plant Chompers! Very interesting. I hope you have tips for lowering LDL cholesterol with lifestyle? My mother (76) can not take statins, she became very sick when she used them. She is eating a whole food plant based diet since 3 years now, and she feels better then ever. No more reumatoide arthritis. Her extremely high blood pressure lowered to normal, her cognitive strength improved. 5 years ago her neurogologist said she would be demented (vascular dementia) within a few years, and now she has a perfect concentration and a great long term and short term memory. She still cycles (on a normal bike, not an e-bike) a few hours every day at a high speed (good speed for me, 43 years old and athletic). She also practices mindfulness to reduce stress and to prevent extreme peeks in blood pressure. The only thing is the high LDL cholesterol. She eats lots of different vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, nutbutter, seedbutter. Whole life no alcohol, no smoking.
This is spot on to most experience.
Plant Chompers!
Your channel is AMAZING!
Very nice! Good to hear your back story
Great video and critique of the Esselstyn and Ornish studies. Just a little anecdotal evidence. My mom developed pressure sores on her heel and side of her foot after a stroke, from not being moved enough in rehab. At home, I followed the Esselstyn’s diet for her. Wound care told me the wounds would never heal, due to low blood flow to the leg, but after 8 months on this diet she was discharged from wound care because the wounds have completely closed and healed.The wound care team called it a miracle. I credit the diet.
Thank you for reporting this wonderful outcome! Dr. Gil's skepticism and rigor is admirable, but for us laymen, the evidence shows a fully plant based diet centered around whole foods is the prudent way to go, until more evidence becomes available.
@@someguy2135 no it doesn’t mean that at all…he’s even showing you the CORDIOPREV study that shows the Mediterranean diet, which also contains some meats, is also able to reduce plaque. It’s not just a vegan diet, but a vegan diet sure is a good choice.
@@stephx9759 I am not saying that any amount of meat eliminates the benefits of a predominantly plant based diet. A person could be healthy including a certain amount of detrimental foods in their diet, but all of the evidence I have seen (not just the studies that Dr. Gil mentioned in this video) leads me to choose a fully plant based diet. That is the diet chosen by Dr. Gil for himself, by the way.
@@someguy2135 i stand corrected
@@stephx9759 Kudos! So rare here in the comments section. I like to think I am also open minded to evidence that might correct my current position.
Thanks for having me on! 👍🏼
One of those established whole plant food based doctors used a great analogy to help lay people understand the term "reversal of heart disease." It goes like this: For decades you've been running towards the edge of a cliff, many thousands of miles away, a few miles every day as fast as you can run. You've been running so long you've worn out your joints and are crippled with pain. One day as you're running you come right to edge of cliff and make a sudden stop, standing still for hours in same spot. Eventually you get smart and start very slowly walking backwards away from edge with goal to go back to starting point. You're stuck in slow backwards walking mode and will never live long enough to get back to start. But you have reversed course, your joints start to gradually improve, and you definitely have more life to live.
Nice summary, Don’t forget that the Esselstyn intervention excluded fat. Oils nuts, seeds and avocados are excluded from this diet. A minimum olive oil could be used with cooking but non-stick cookware was preferred) I was on this diet for a number of years and it dramatically improved several health parameters. It is far more restrictive than a standard vegan diet.
Was is hard to adapt to? Did you miss the "healthy fats"?
@@elliw. It was a diet for "no hope" cases. That's why it was so severely restricted.
How did removing fat affect health in other ways, if at all? The body needs some fats for certain functions no?
Glad to hear you got much better and I hope you live for a long time. I am on the whole food-plant based diet by Mcdougall. I lowered my total serum cholesterol which was 220 and it dropped to 120 but I the interval between testing was almost year. I bet it got better very quickly. Also, LDL went from 120 to 70 and is now 76. Total cholesterol last checked was 131.
I also fixed weight (still great) as well as blood pressure and resting heart rate. Blood pressure is now stage 1 hypertension: I am trying exercise plus sodium reduction but all else is well.
I have been doing the Esylstyn diet for almost five years. My triglycerides have gone from 51 to 98 . I really wonder if removing the healthy fats is what has caused my triglycerides to increase so much.
This channel combined with a select few others (Plant Chompers, Simon Hill and his 'The Proof' Podcast, Nutritional Advocate...) is such a gift. Fair, non-biased and well presented, every time. Beautiful stuff.
So true. I love to listen to Dr. Fuhrman and Dr Greger but I find the group you listed to be particularly objective in their reporting.
Love your vids Gil. Share them often. Ornish did have fat free yogurt and egg whites. But essentially no cholesterol and very low saturated fat. Why not just interview Ornish himself? He’s kind and accessible. I’ve interviewed him twice. The principles of nutrition consistent with heart disease reversal do not require plant purity. Maybe not even plant predominance in the purest technical sense. But a high natural fiber, calorie appropriate, minimally refined plant predominant eating pattern low in saturated fat and appropriately rich in potassium and magnesium (as well as calcium) vs added sodium is likely the sweet spot. And I say this with over 20K hours of leading longitudinal multidisciplinary, intensive lifestyle intervention programs, including the Metabolic Health and Weight Mgt programs at Henry Ford Health System (which I designed) and the Pritikin Longevity Center in Miami.
thank you, yes, we'll try to have him on at some point to discuss
What are the roles of potassium and magnesium in lowering LDL? Or is making sure we have adequate amounts, simply a safeguard to prevent other problems?
@@Janeway1269 Potassium and Mag, but specifically potassium, are vital to proper cardiac health. Your kidneys do a great job of retaining/sparing as needed, but that's based on the underlying assumption that they're working correctly. Restricting or over-consuming potassium are both inadvisable outside of individual diets related to specific physiological conditions/needs.
The thing is that people's heart disease doesn't normally just stop like it did in the Esselstyn study; we have lots of studies with people doing exercise, not smoking, etc, and their heart disease doesn't normally just stop in the rather dramatic way it did in the Esselstyn study, meaning that something very notable was happening which can't just be ascribed to other factors.
Precisely. There is nothing better out there. As a potential heart disease patient, I really can't afford to wait.
Or it can be assigned to other factors but we don't know what they are.
Strict plant based diet
"The problem is often not with the data but with the interpretation of the data." Gil you're a real treasure, keep speaking science, muito obrigado!
10 years low carb Paleo BP 140/90, 18 months WFPBSOS BP 105/70. I am not waiting for the perfect unethical study. For now. I was tricked once 12 years ago, I would hate to be tricked twice.
WOW!
My blood pressure went way down coming from moderate carb whole food omni diet to plant centered diet (with some seafood)
Great to hear
@@Dan16673 great to hear you have improved your health as well!
@@TheBwithers absolutely. BPWF is the only way to go
This is the type of channel that needs to have millions of subscribers. I'm determined to recommend it to my colleagues and patients. In this modern era, patient education should come in various forms, to battle the pandemic of misinformation and health marketing this is a perfect resource. Thanks doc!
I think he just muddies the water.
Important to keep in mind that no matter the intervention, it's probably going to take years to see "clinically meaningful" reversal of plaque since it took decades to build up in the first place. Most experimental studies don't have the funding to go on for years, so even a small amount of regression in a short period of time is "meaningful" in a sense.
True, but you can almost immediately cease the buildup of plaque, which is a winner in itself
That is not what the Esselsteyn study showed. They DID see meaningful reversal in people within a reasonable time frame. That's what makes this study so compelling. It was a small sample and there are confounding factors, but the results are so significant that a person with heart disease in the family, like me, would be foolish to ignore it.
Actually many patients saw significant improvement in a few months.
Actually some of these people were so motivated to follow it because they can feel their chest pains went away like magik in just a few weeks XD
@@lenguyenngoc479 The scientific and medical evidence for a healthy plant-based diet curing and reversing heart disease, the only diet to do so, it proven fact at this point.
It's so refreshing to hear your unbiased, evidence based analysis. Imagine if the country was run like this! Personally, I am vegan for ethical reasons, so any health or environmental benefits are just icing on the cake.
Thanks for your honesty and clarity.
As a vegan I simply love all your vegan related videos. I learn a lot from you and I point other vegans to your videos to demystify some myths they believe. Veganism is not a panacea (although personally I believe it's morally, environmental and physically better than the alternatives) but we need to have that in mind and there are disadvantages on being vegan as well. Really appreciate what you do, nothing less than public service.
If you think that it's morally right then you don't have a choice. You will only accept evidence that proves your position because the other evidence is immoral
Well explained comparisons and solid critique.
One of your shorter videos but one of the most interesting of how the marketing of less than perfect evidence (books, films, websites, web chatter) influences the reception of a product without the general public understanding the whole picture. I appreciate how you broke down the evidence, particularly the narrowing and reopening of the arterial wall, as proof. It honestly sounds good and solid proof, but is it really? Your points were very very helpful. In the long run, though, more plants, less meat, Blue Zone, Mediterranean, whatever, seems to prevent heart disease and improve longevity, and reduce cardiovascular incidence. My husband and I went plant-based three years ago. Having a normal ApoB, lipids, blood sugar, and other indices at 63 after being plant-based is enough for me to stay this way with some flexing off. Would love to be 70 and on no CV/HTN/DM meds. We shall see.
I hope you will do another video on whether a strict vegan diet really reverses diabetes.
I turned around my heart disease following a low fat plant based diet as well as a bunch of other issues. Seemed to work for me.
This video was a long-time coming. Nothing ever gets accomplished by lying or by overblowing benefits and evidence. Instead the opposite can happen, and people can get pushed away from a healthy diet and feel gulled/deceived. Plant-based diets have very real benefits and the community should focus on promoting those, rather than attempting to set up a cure-all image and a magic wand illusion around the diet. This by no means shows that plants aren't healthy, but that there's no insane undiscovered solution to health and balance between exercise, lifestyle and diet is key.
Thank you for the honest and insightful analysis as usual.
Great explanation of these often-referenced research papers. Focusing too much on reversal of atherosclerosis can also be deterimental since the eventual outcome of morbidity and mortality is more relevant. Patients can do quite well even with a heavy plaque burden as long as they aren't adding to the inflammatory risk or uncompensated vasoconstriction of the affected vessels. And prevention remains key for anyone at risk of plaque.
Sometimes, the inflamation comes with a simple cold.
Great video. Good to have overly simplified statements, sometimes to the point of error, assessed and corrected. Hopefully more clinical trial data will emerge that targets this specific question.
When promoting plant based diets, it is important not to lose our credibility through overstating the facts. Dr. Gil's skepticism and scientific rigor are admirable, but for us laymen, the evidence shows a fully plant based diet centered around whole foods is the prudent way to go, until more evidence becomes available.
100% and its quite obvious imo
@@Dan16673 Thank you. Plant based burger. Right mr Burger?
@@someguy2135 absolutely. plants ftw!
@@Dan16673 🌱
All you need to do is look at his diet. He himself eats a plant based diet
good stuff Doc, thanks for the information
It appears that many of these videos and studies overcomplicate the issue of long term diets. The blue zone study seems to answer many concerns and questions. All 5 blue zones are predominantly plant based with very conservative amounts of dairy and meat in 4 of the zones. This seems the best for a long life and fewer risks of cancer, heart disease and diabetes. A diet attempting to ‘reverse’ damage is another thing. It appears a stricter diet is more called for in those situations.
@@StanDupp6371 it’s not what the eating NOW…it’s what the THEN 90-100 year olds WERE eating. Did you ever read the findings?
@@vermontmike9800nope or he would realize that in Okinawa, they eat 4X more pork than the rest of Japan
@@ruabadfish2oou right, and that's in part what caused their lifespan to drop dramatically. Do you not know the story? The first documented Okinawa diet was predominantly (65%+) sweet potatoes and restricted in calories by about 10% compared to the rest of Japan, pre-westernization. As westernization occurred they began to eat more pork, and coincidentally their outlier lifespans dropped precipitously.
@@perrydimes6915 So...the study was done in 1949. 90% of their pig population was wiped out during the war, FORCING them to rely heavier on sweet potatoes.
Hence, the diet they'd been forced to live off the last 7 years is NOT the same diet that had been giving them the longer years.
However, you are correct that time hasn't helped because as the world has become richer, the abundance of foods and larger acceptance of the Western diet has led to more people eating more of not the best food.
So basically it's not the high carb, sweet potato based diet that gave the Okinawans their long lives.
Genetics, a more balanced diet, and less stress is probably more likely.
@ruabadfish2oou Oh, I didn't know that. You make a good point, I'll be careful about sharing the Okinawa information then. But:
1) We don't know what they did eat before those 7 years
2) the logical implication of your statement is NOT that the sweet potato based diet did not give them their long lives. It's that it's unclear whether or not it did.
But what is clear is that the westernization of the diet (i.e. much higher pork consumption) led to LOWER lifespans. So you can't just assume, as you did, that eating 4x more pork NOW is what they were doing BEFORE world war II. If that was the case, then their health outcomes would be just as good.
This is very interesting and so true. Every nutrition camp seems to have their holy grail studies they repeatedly reference to "prove" the validity of their diet. We hear a lot about the preponderance of the evidence on this channel and I don't think there's a whole lot of debate that in general, a diet rich in fruits/veggies and fiber in general is associated with better outcomes. The annoyance for me is when people get hyper-focused on elements within a diet and make claims about specific foods or ingredients being somehow inherently bad or toxic. Oils, salt, sugar, carbs, fat, lechtins, etc, all seem to get scrutinized to the point that they create dietary branches and confused people who are just trying to make the best choices. When I was first trying to go plant based, I was faced with SOSA free diets, Potato/starch diets, WFPB diets (super strict versions), even plant based keto diets and so many more. Nutrition is such an emotional topic for so many people and it frustrates me that it can be exploited and people become so dedicated to a group without any room for critical thinking. I'm glad channels like this exist that give more objective viewpoints.
So what does this mean? A healthy lifestyle of exercise, stress management, not smoking, taking meds that are necessary, and proper diet can reduce and possibly reverse heart disease. What is proper diet? Generally low in processed foods and high in whole plant foods, but doesnt have to have only plant foods. That's what I've gathered from the scientific evidence.
Thank you for the clarification!
I'm not vegan --- I regularly eat sashimi. However, all of my lipid numbers, including ApoB, have improved dramatically since I eliminated animal fats (other than fish.) It's a no-brainer for me.
Another clear and comprehensive summary from Dr. Gil. So appreciated as I’ve recently chosen to go vegan.
If erectile disfunction goes away from a vegetarian diet, exercise, and loss of weight then can we say that plaque was reduced in the blood vessels? This happened to me. I like to think my blood vessels are healthier now.
Which studies show that?
Anecdotal?
@@edwardbanegas2153 Well, it is believed that a major cause of erectile disfunction is plugged up blood vessels. But I suppose the causes of erect disfunction can be complicated and other factors can be involved. That's sort of what I'm asking. Is it likely that blood flow has been improved by a vegetarian diet and exercise?
Vasodilation plays a role. Try watermelon 🍉 and a fist full of greens three times a day. What works within a day. Obviously not lo g lasting. Just to compound thing Atherosclerosis impacts vasodilation
@@donwinston now you've added exercise as a factor.
are u vegan or vegetarian now??
Thanks for teaching me critical thinking.
Great video!
As always, thank you for a balanced view 👏
Dr. Carvalho, would you consider making youtube shorts answering health questions with citing a study and giving a short explanation of results?
The bottom line is that the less animal products you eat and the more whole plant based products you eat the better off you will be health wise. This issue is not complicated but on social media a big portion of the information on health is total bunk.
Totally agree, given that all other parameters of a healthy life and body is met, a healthy whole plant diet beats all others.
Excellent analysis
I visited Dr. Esselstyn in 2007 after being thrown out of a cath lab and introduced to a Thoracic surgeon. It scared me to death. I went to the Cleveland Clinc and they sent me home to be stabalized on drugs prior to surgery. I took one last desperate look for alternatives and found Dr. Esselstyn and visited him at home in Cleveland. Ten years later I got into a high stress situation and ultimately had the surgery in 2011. Doc Esselstyn was really disappointed in me. I have remained largely on his diet for the past 17 years and only now struggling with my grafts. His entire family follows the diet and the Dr and wife Ann are entering their 90's together. If any current "experts" say his diet doesn't work then present specific alternatives. Don't debate the science of a man who has improved so many lives.
hi. note the video doesn't claim "his diet doesn't work". it evaluates the claim that "diet X reverses heart disease". we don't have compelling enough evidence to make that claim. doesn't mean people can't eat that diet if they prefer. just that we should think critically when making scientific claims
New subscriber here. I really enjoy your content. You remind me so much of an old friend I used to know with regards to how laid back you are and how you speak. To be honest though, I think you're probably way smarter than he is 😆. Keep up the good content
QUESTION: Dr. Gil, what test is more accurate than angiography to determine the progression or regression of arterial plagues? Thank You
The hard part is convincing someone in their 60s or 70s to switch to a vegan diet.
Fascinating. I’ve always wondered where the line was between fact and dogma. Turns out the line is right here.
Wonderful! I really like your easy to follow explanations. All seems obvious and fair... but I'm left with a couple of questions:
1- After getting such impressive results and after so many years, how come we don't have other trials better designed to determine what is the actual weight of each intervention and tease out the confounding factors? (Do we?)
2- Assuming there is a large cohort of people who don't smoke, don't exercise regularly and don't meditate, couldn't we check their health outcomes regarding chronic diseases and find out the impact of their diet as an independent variable? (Adjusting for whatever other confounding factors). Wasn't this (or something similar) done in The China Study? ... epidemiology bad? (As many say).
My hypothesis is that those who eat a healthy diet would be way ahead of the pack... as I don't believe we can exercise or meditate out an unhealthy diet... but I may be wrong.
There are a number of reasons for 1. Studies are very expensive to do, and so often need to get funding from commercial interests (pharma companies, food groups, etc.). Even if state-funded, it would require many years to see differences, and the Ornish/Esselstyn protocols, being extremely low-fat, have proven to be very hard to do for the vast majority of people. Consider going into a study for even just five years and being randomly selected to only eat 10% of your calories from fat, absolutely nothing refined, no added sugar, oil, any kind of animal product, etc. Even many vegans would balk at this - given the low-fat and nothing refined aspects. So just there you are biasing your study to people who are so seriously committed to health that they are able to commit to years on such a diet, wheras the control group could include many people who have zero commitment.
2. We do this via population/observational/prospective studies. That's how we have clues that these things are beneficial (exercise, meditation, healty diet, etc.) The problem is that health is not about a single variable. Humans are complex creatures that are effected in myriad ways by different inputs like food, polution, smoking, and behavioral stuff like stress, social connectedness, etc,. etc. Trying to somehow come up with an equation or rank these different aspects, in my opinion, is short sighted. All of these things matter, and prioritizing one over others is going to have pretty limited results, especially in the longer term. Best to try to improve all of these pillars that you can in whatever ways work for you, rather than obsess about the optimal way to do one of these things and ignore the others...
Because they would rather sell you medicines than to teach you how to take care of your body. The amount of money that flows towards these diet-studies pales in comparison to the amount of money that’s being pumped into designing new pharmaceutical drugs. It’s the same old story-> it’s all about the $$$
Money. Studies cost money. Correctly done studies will also cost people in the control group their lives. People might have to die for others to live. Next, a correctly done study would start with sets of twins at birth, control them in a metabolic ward (Cage!) for life. Never going to happen. Ethics, money, morals,...... Yes, eat healthy (whole foods) but also live a healthy life near the sea for the sea air, drink very clean water (but not pure water, we need the water to have minerals), ensure we are happy (this is critical), get sleep, sex, sunlight, exercise, resistance training, social interaction, find meaningful tasks, get regular medical evaluation and blood work,.......as well as not doing the bad things like drinking, smoking, street drugs, stress,.....
@@dvdmon My interest in determining the true weight of the diet, compared to the other positive things (exercise, meditate, ect) is because I believe that just like any animal living in its natural habitat is generally healthy, we humans could probably be just fine if we eat as we should. No meditation needed, and no other exercise than a reasonable active lifestyle.
On the other hand, I'm not saying those are ineffective or have anything against them. I agree on the combination as the best approach. In fact, I would think that exercise and stress management would allow you to compensate for having a less than perfect diet... whatever that is.
Yes, I would also assume there could be other trials who show reversal of atherosclerosis through diet with more modern testing measurements. And the body of evidence does show that diet - what people eat and drink (!) - turns out to be the determining factor in health outcomes (in a non-smoking group).
I’d love to see a well design study on whole foods plant base vegan diet and reversing heart disease. But I won’t hold my breath waiting. The financial motivation is not there to do so.
Loved the topic. Thank you so much. Could you not infer reduction of plaque by measuring systolic or diastolic pressure or heart beats/min. (as a measuremet or a change ovr time) or physical stress tests to some degree?
No, blood pressure resolves much faster via restoration of the endothelial function, and heart rate has little to do with it.
@@erastvandoren thanks!
Looking in my family, and talking about people over thrir 70s, the plant based ones are certainly better off: weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer, death etc. It's not a miracle, but it's more then worth it.
As a mostly-vegan vegetarian I'm glad I stumbled across this channel which seems to be looking at nutritional research from a less biased perspective than many vegan sources. Unfortunately the vast majority of people arguing against vegsnism completely discredit the diet and its healthiness, and adopt fringe and unproven opinions. It's nice to find a source that is more critical of purist thinking but still sticks to consensus and avoids cherry picking and misrepresentation
We followed the book the China Study because if the problems w cassein. I wish thus could be addressed if maybe only to say we don't know enough about that animal protein. Very informative. TY.
I get the privilege to be a er...well in Swedish we say "Handledare" (yes, lead someone by the hand), but well, supervisor to junior nurse students while they are out on their practical placements at the hospital. I love to confuse them with one of my favourite trick questions, usually when we're on way to patients with a meal. "Which medicine (again in Swedish it's läkemedel, or "healing substance") do you think we give most to paitents?". They usually guess paracetemol, or antibiotics, to which I shake my head and point at the food.
Then I try to get them thinking a little wider, I ask them to imagine what would happen to me if I were to do my medical calculations wrong and for some reason give a patient 25mg of morphin intravenous instead of 0.25mg, but then I ask them what happens to me if I give a patient with hyperlipidemi a meal containing dietary cholesterol.
The dietician who gave my class our o-so-brief education on nutrition was, shall we say, behind the times, while we need a lot more studies (and I'm confused by the glacial pace of the research given my above trick question) I'm also aware of the time lag between definitive research and clincal application, meanwhile....the food industry continues to wreck lives.
Thanks Gil, the most interesting Stat that is missing from most interventional studies is the absolute numbers. You continue to enlighten my viewpoint that has been confounded by the online BS from the clickbaiters. I wish I knew what to eat🤖
basically its incredibly difficult to prove a causal relationship
I would love to see you have Essylsten, or Gregor, Barnard, Ornish, on to talk about this, or anything else for that matter.
I heard Gregor on a podcast responding to accusations of cherry picking the Essylsten trial saying, "It's not cherry picking if there's only one cherry to pick from. Show me another study that has the same results and I'll quote it.". How would you respond to him and that statement?
Anyway, another well thought out, informative, video the way you always do.
These guys are captured in their own ideology. I highly doubt someone can discuss with them in an open minded atmosphere.
I'm gonna start eating healthy and following your advice. Ive always been told im a normal weight for my height 26 year old male 150 pounds and 5 foot 10. BUT I eat like garbage. I'll admit it. Some days I don't even eat anything at all. There's days where I'll go to work have a single burger and some chips and that's all I'll eat all day. I've recently noticed a decrease in energy and motivation (Go figure). Hoping your videos help out.
Thanks a lot, doctor. This information was a hard pill to swallow for me being indoctrinated on wfpb through starch solution since it did so much for me. Still, there is no harm in eating strict whole food-plant based for plaque; regression hasn't been disproven yet on specific diets. In the end I"m happy to stay off statins if at all possible.
Hi Gil, do you know what can cause the burning/itching sensation in the tongue when eating dark chocolate (approximately 85%) and flaxseed (either soaked or ground only)
I've got an out of topic question. Do fiber affect fat soluble vitamin absorption for example I take vitamin D2 along with my oatmeal and peanut butter( I've read fiber affects fat absorption)
I like the sentiment at the end of the video, that it's the overall outcome that matters, why get stuck on plaque size measurements, when the whole body is obviously revitalized? A healthy vegan diet can certainly reverse heart disease in a variety of ways, especially if you get your LDL and other markers very low.
There are clearly people on both plant-based and non-plant-based diets who reversed various heart disease symptoms and markers, though.
QUESTION to Nutrition Made Simple: Have you seen the news splash recently about the study that concluded that berberine can reverse plaque? Would love to hear your view on this.
A question for Gil re the Esselstyn study. While it certainly has limitations as discussed, doesn't the sheer magnitude of the difference (ie 0.6% vs 62% recurrence rate, or approx 100x) suggest that indeed something real is occuring? Or to put it another way - are the limitations discussed more relevant when differences found are comparatively small (say 30%) than when very large differences are reported? As another commenter said, it would be good if some of these studies were done again with more rigour given the importance of heart disease. Sometimes I wonder if all the plant based groups shouldn't cooperate to establish a joint research fund to investigate these questions fully.
That is a brilliant plant! Would be amazing. And I agree, if the magnitude of the difference is also important. Dr.Esselstyn explained that he was giving so much personal attention to each and every participant, to keep them on this program. And it is hard to replicate with a very big group, but if you find a group that already loves this lifestyle, it would be easier. Both my parents and my husband and me experienced so many health benefits. And especially interesting to me is the fact that I (from the four people in our mini group) was already a lifelong vegetarian, and I did not even drank milk, butter and yoghurt (did not like the taste); I only ate an egg ever once in a while (maybe 2 per month) and a little bit of cheese every day. Still, going whole food plant based improved my health a lot!
@@TangoMasterclassCom Same thing here, I was a lactovegetarian for 42 years before I went vegan, didn't drink milk but ate lots of cheese and butter and developed an autoimmune disease. It went away after I went vegan 10-11 years ago, plus my good eyesight came back, better immunity, etc.
@@carinaekstrom1 That is so interesting, I am so happy for you!! I was lactovegetarian my whole life untill age 38. Then I started eating whole food plant based (vegan) five ears ago, and I was so surprised how much health benefits I felt. I had not expected that such a "small" dietary change from vegetarian to vegan would have such a big health impact. For my husband, who before used to drink milk daily and who used to eat meat once a week, the changes in health were huge (no more asthma medication, no more joint pain, more muscle mass, less fat, better endurance)
@@TangoMasterclassCom Yes, I was surprised too, but now it seems I hear the same story over and over. Very happy for you both! 🙂
Great video Gil, Thanks ! I asked Kris Gunnars if green vegetables are the Ajax for cleanning the arteries ? He said it takes a whole lot more than green vegetables to unclog arteries. He also told me in my email that stress is the 1# reason why arteries get clogged. That was about 5 years ago.
LDL is #1, inflammation is #2 (inflammation helps LDL to get into the artery wall and then into a foam cell).
We know that you should have a plant dominant diet. What Gil is saying here is that it's not certain that you need to get rid of all animal products.
Really good 🔥
This seams to be a common occurrence in nutritional theory.
It's stated that low fat, high fat, saturated or unsaturated changes to diet decrease cardiovascular disease, yet new fangled dietary regimens always include lowering body fat.
I like the purpose of Angiography study :D
Sounds deep....
Both Esselstyn and Ornish diet are for people who are already suffering from heart disease. As far as I know, with my family members, it’s the only diet that are prolonging their life and feeling healthier and active in the process. They are on it for over ten years now and are having really good outcome based on their lipid panel, stress test and heart scans. It is a restrictive diet but it can save and prolong your life.
I´m glad it's working for them!!! :)
It doesn’t work for everyone and even carefully diligently following vegans have reported detrimental contraindications and health problems caused by veganism. They should not be ignored because they provide evidence which counters the popular status quo who promote the veganism works narrative peddled, and don’t forget that there is money to be made in the vegan industries, as well as pharma and allopathy industries.
We needed a randomized control smoking study to prove that smoking causes lung cancer. Don’t we have 2 studies plus pritikin and rice diet showed regression of chronic diseases and prolongation of life? Do we have the SAD diet showing same or better?
It's not true that only a vegan diet has ever shown reversal. A study was done in Israel at their major medical university in 2005 using three different diets including of all things low carb. All three diets showed reversal of plaque. The reversal was driven by weight loss, but the direct correlation for reversal was a drop in Systolic blood pressure. The more a person dropped Systolic blood pressure the more reversal they experienced regardless of diet. The study I find most convincing for survival benefits of a low fat heavy plant based diet was done by Lester Morrison in the early 60's. His study had 100 patients who had suffered heart attacks. Half continued with the diet if any recommended by their doctors. The other fifty were placed on his experimental low fat (15%) plant based diet with small amounts of meat. The study ended I believe in the 12th year when ALL the controls had died while 38% of the low fat plant based diet were still alive. To me this is positive proof of a low fat plant based diet.
Those studies sound interesting. I’m compiling a database of published nutrition studies. I’ll look into the ones you mentioned. Thanks.
Hey doc! If you could, I would like a video of hypoglycemia, how you get it and how to treat/cure it because I was diagnosed with it as a teenager.
What was key about the Ornish diet as well as Essylstins study was that fat calories wether vegan or not remained 10% or less. This is difficult to achieve on an omnivorous diet. Ornish was able to accomplish it with skim milk.
Do u mean 10 percent saturated only or 10 percent saturated and unsaturated combined? Rough Example only 10 percent of diet to consist of olive oil and yoghurt ? Thanks
@@TheRst2001 The diet says no to all oils including olive oil, at least it did. The fat that is included comes with the food items, no extra oil of any kind is eaten.
@@cyberfunk3793 got it, thanks 👍
@@TheRst2001 total fat was restricted to 10 percent, just as it is on the Esselstyn diet. When I was doing Esselstyn 100% compliant, my fat ranged from 9 to 12%. My saturated fat intake was consistently under 1% of total calories!
@@dvdmon thanks
Hmmm... feels like the essence of the research got lost in translation. Correct me if i'm wrong, but did Ornish and Esselsteyn dub their diet "vegan"? I doubt it... Didnt they always talk about WFPB? (Which the oldschool mediterrenean is an example of?)
Pretty much stopped eating dairy and a lot of meat a18 months ago. Not particularly strict but fairly consistent. Dirty summary - Total chloresterol down from 7.8 to 5.2. No other significant lifestyle changes.
I've heard that the best thing one can do is keep LDL really low to prevent heart attacks. Do I have the right goal post here?
I'm thinking the diet that does that is the winner for me. So far, I have to admit that the stricter I was on the Vegan WFPB diet, the closer I got to what I am told is the ideal. (Got to 80 then bumped to 100 when I got "looser" with my diet. Working on getting back to 80 or lower.)
So how do we get such a study funded to answer the question once and for all?
That's the question we'd all like the answer to. Getting funding for good long term studies is a big challenge unless we get some rich mysterious donor fund the whole thing 😅
@@kiaranjay5153 Too bad we couldn't crowdsource funding! There's gotta be a way.
Preventing getting there in the first place is basically still the best way. Keep inflammation low, BMi in check and ApoB low. Basically following Peter Attia his guidelines on that.
Also wondering why the studies have never been repeated.. probably because the results would be so impressive to flip the paradigm?
Several months old I know - but just saw this - Ornish's approach is accepted by medicare and medicaid - so I think it is widely repeated and accepted at this point. The other wasn't really a study - it was just reporting results. I think in these cases they are dealing with last chance to save lives - sometimes it is not ethical to do a randomized study in these cases I think.
What about the vitamin c and lysine? An optometrist showed via angiogram(?) Of the blood vessel in the eye that looked like it de-stenosed or at least the outlined of the vessel opened.
Thank you
Btw, which oil do you recommend to cook with? I've been using rice bran oil because of its high smoke point but it has 20g saturated fat / 100g. Should I be cooking with olive oil?
Rice bran oil is healthy especially in high heat just like avocado oil. Olive oil is healthy too, but breaks down In high heat.
No oil
You can use Olive Oil for everything if you like according to the trials at DMU done by Professor Grootveld.
Olive oil seems like a good compromise oil to use in general as it scores pretty well in most areas.
I have been long considering a vegan diet, however I primarily worry about iodine intake, I was wondering your recommendation as I could really only find information on primarily animal products and iodine. Thank you!
I take some kelp supplement a few times a week.
Has there ever been a prove up or follow up of the Ornish /Esselstyn resuls?
Esselstyn did a follow up that showed that most of the people in his original study were healthy and alive 12+ years later. He also did a second study with a much larger group of 150-200 people about 20 years after his first study which had very similar results. As far as I know I haven't heard of any follow-up on the people who were in the Ornish study in the years after his original study was concluded.
A cardiologist told me this about the vegan diet. Another cardiologist told me to do the dash diet.
Aren’t you leaving out the large populations observational studies that showed vegan versus omnivore in less confounding (or more controlled) situations? (Adventists, Nurses, China Study, etc)
relevant for overall effect on prevention of CVD (as touched on in the end). not for the specific claim of *reversal* that is often made but not assessed in those studies
How about the argument that in okinawas and Papua new guinea there is no heart disease and they are vegan as esselstyn argues
I follow a "mostly" plant based diet as suggested by Ornish and Esselstyn, but I am always amazed at how many who do so seem to have never "closely" read the articles each of them have published.
So many have false impressions of what the programs actually included.
For example, very few seem to know that almost ALL participants in both of Esselstyn's trials were on statins in addition to the diet.
If you want the results Esselstyn claims, you'd better be including a statin. Esselstyn tends to avoid speaking about that fact.
So what part of his results were due to the statins and what part were due to the diet. Amazing he could leave out such a crucial detail in (methods).
In the Ornish trial, so many people have inflated expectations of how much reversal will take place
In his "Experimental" wing, they ranked the participants in tertiles (1/3, 1/3, 1/3) of adherence.
The group as a whole got a about -3% reversal... (best got -6.81%, middle got -3.02% and the least only got a -0.37% reversal)
BTW, their diet averaged 8.5% calories from fat over 5 full years.
In short, look for possibly "halting" progression rather than "reversing" problem plaque. Especially in those over age 60 whose plaque is often mostly fibrous or calcified. Diet won't revese fibrous or calcified plaque.
Not the dream world ideas we see in so many discussions where people expect to go from a 90% blockage down to only a 50% blockage.
Yes, they had been on statins with no improvements for a long time, but with the diet those improvements happened, as far as I understood it.
Do you think a video about plant based diet and anti nutrients? I am still omnivorous, but my goal is to cut out eggs, limit chicken to 4 oz., And to keep the rest as low fat to lean dairy. I struggle with finding a diet that allows for covering most of the micronutrients and staying cheap. Anti-nutrients just add another layer complexity . Thanks for the content
we did one on lectins a while back (search "how to cook beans" on the channel page), will touch on oxalates ASAP
Why not cut out eggs they are one of the most nutrient dense foods on the planet. A proper well balanced diet should consist of fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and dairy produce. And you should eat less refined carbs and cut out sugar all together.
This isn’t about the video but I’m curious what since (at least to my knowledge) you’re vegetarian or vegan do you think there’s any issues to getting basically 0 cholesterol?
It is something many people overdo but at least to my knowledge it is vital in testosterone production
Well if you had zero cholesterol you would be doing serious damage to your brain. Your brain needs cholesterol to keep it healthy.
@@deborahwhitney9427 yeah for sure
You’re body does produce some but we were still evolved as omnivores so our body was getting cholesterol from outside sources as well
I’m not read up on the research but I do feel there’s something to be said for getting none of it from your diet
So in short.... Maybe.
Oh my Science!
There is no discussion here on the psychological factors involved in controlling heart disease. Meditation does get a tick though. If you are under extreme stress or even moderate stress then your cortisol/noradrenaline levels will be high and this may induce calcification in the arteries. Also there is the issue of social support and social interaction. Without those you may be on a strict vegan diet and still have some build up of calcification in the arteries. And the sociopath-economic status of the individuals need to be considered. Meditation is good but it may take many forms: cycling, studying sculpture, gardening : anything in which you become absorbed and stop obsessing on worries.
There should be a study which includes fruitarian vs vegan vs processed meat eaters vs raw meat eaters (Japanese + Siberian diet). Saying Vegan or Carnivore encompasses too many different types of food groups these days.
How many people do you think you could recruit for RANDOM placement on either a all-fruit or all raw meat diet for 5-10 years? What Billionaire is going to fund such a study just out of curiosity?
@@dvdmon 'What Billionaire is going to fund such a study just out of curiosity?'
Dr Berg?
@@Al-vw8qt He's a billionaire?
Before McDonald's and other fast foods became popular in Japan it was rare for the Japanese to have cardiovascular disease. First thought it must be genetics but when they would move to the USA and start eating like we do ( usually the second generation) they would have just as many heart attacks as we do.
So is vegan diet the key to health I wanted to try it but can't give up on sugar and bread Will give me same results if I keep sugar and bread plz can someone answer me
@@Justbeoktoday thanks God bless you and your family
@@user-uf2pk2dh6d you don’t have to give up sugar or bread to be vegan, but I would minimise sugar as much as you can and use wholemeal/wholewheat bread for your health.
@@hirataketasha9942 thanks your opinion was very helpful
you're basically fact-checking Dr Greger's biggest claim, I love it.
Dr. Gregers books makes as big as a claim to a plethora of diseases and cites studies for all of them. Are they always 100% convining no... but the general pattern cannot be denied.
Great breakdown. When I first became vegan I was indoctrinated to believe it reversed CVD by Esselstyn and Greger and was pretty shocked to see the data broken down. It's especially interesting that when you look at he numbers in the Ornish trial, they are tiny tiny changes that are not clinically relevant...and if you learn how stenosis percentage is calculated and how the numbers changed due to the intervention, you will see why the tiny changes have been termed "pseudo-regression".
so vegan or a diet based more on plants its not a real help to get a better cardiovascular health?...thanks in advance for your feedback on this interesting issue.
@@nicedoppy2077 I agree with the conclusion of the video: a plant-predominant diet is clearly good for cardiovascular health, improving both mortality and events. A healthy plant-based vegan diet should fall into this category. Such a diet MIGHT help to reverse heart disease, but we don't have the research to show that is true...but we know it will help keep you alive and healthy, so that's enough for now!
@@jeff.howard there are also many people who have experienced CAD reversal who have not been part of a study. Not everyone tells their tale.
@@billdublewhopper3064 Sure but we have no way of quantifying a world full of anecdotes without doing a study...so the best you can say is maybe.
Wasn’t The Ornish diet lacto-Ovo vegetarian?
Who is the interviewer?
My takeaway, eat less processed crap, more plant based clean eating, not necessarily vegan, move some, control your stress, and the odds move in your favour.
You nailed it!
DR E: "No Oil No oil No oil"
Ornish was non-fat dairy and egg whites
Can one Pre d type 2 go on Vegan Vegetarian plus on OMAD to reverse Pre d type 2?
If yes, take how long the time periods ?
The equation result shall be:
OMAD + VEGAN VEGETARIAN
+ how many days or months or years ?
= HBA1c < 5.4
Purpose: to reverse early Pre d type 2
Love the critical, non biased analysis. I see it as a fault on us when we go too heavy in one direction or the other based on our beliefs.
I myself am vegan, but I have a multitude of reasons to do so outside of health and "ethics". On the health side, I aim to reach the best diet/lifestyle that I can achieve. However: I know the classification of red meat as a carcinogen and I also know statistics for whole-foods versus animal based diets tends to be in favor or whole foods. Finally, too many people within my own community have cardiovascular health issues and it's ultimately a lifestyle (big picture) issue.
So ultimately, the diet/lifestyle is key to prevent or avoid CAD like said in the video. I suppose the controversy comes to the balance/overstatement part mentioned in the video. Then, we just need to determine what could be comfortably stated and what could be researched to increase confidence.
Not "vegan" but whole foods plant based diet is the healthiest. It that not obvious at this point in time?
Agree with the wording. A big portion of french fries with coke and a donut can be considered vegan, but never be considered whole food plant based...
@@singularity6761 yeah. So it's really deceptive to say vegan. Which is a way of life more than just a diet.
I prefer the vegan diet. I hated eating meat ever since I can remember eating, long before I ever knew any of the real world arguments for and against vegan and meat diets. I suspect certain bodies like meat over vegan OR vegan over meat OR a really good balance of the meat and vegetable food groups. This constant one size fits all fighting is ridiculous.
thank You. I also think that this "1 size fits All" is ridiculous. not that long ago I would have been convinced but since I started doing some research-not anymore. I have started reading about metabolism of only 1 selected nutrient, and it's become bleeding obvious to Me that it's impossible to say that 1 type of diet is the best for EveryOne. so now I wonder what else I'll find out when 1 day I get Time to research the rest of the nutrients. regards.
I'm vegan and broke (not completely... partially broke)
I'm vegan for animals ..had to make it work for animals..took some time..but I'm thriving..
Wouldn't say it was the easiest (going vegetarian was much easier but vegan ..a bit hard but i went vegan for animals.. had to tweak a bunch of things but at the end of the day , I'm good!)
The only thing i miss is a bit of dairy ... (Nooch helps)..
I've been vegetarian for so long that meat and eggs smell gross to me!