There was an article published recently in the Journal of
Family Medicine regarding the results of a study by Dr. Esselstyn concerning
the effect of a plant based diet on patients who had heart disease. The results are stunning.
Dr. Esselstyn completed a study of 200 patients who had
heart disease, with many of them also having other health issues. Of the 200, there was follow up with 198 of
them. 177 of the patients followed the plant
based nutritional program set up by Dr. Esselstyn. 21 of them did not.
Of the 177 who followed the program, only one patient had a
subsequent major cardiovascular event related to disease progression (rate of
.6%). Of the 21 who did not follow the
diet, 13 patients (62%) had a reoccurrence.
This study is raising a lot of discussion in the medical
field as more and more health care professionals are being challenged to look
at nutrition as an answer to the costly issue of heart disease. There are still many people with heart disease who do not want to
give up meat, dairy and oil, but if we are going to make any progress toward
a healthier society that can manage health care costs, we must respect this
scientific information. Doctors and nutritionists are also beginning to understand it is time to ask questions and challenge the nutritional information we have always followed.
Here is a link to Dr. Esselstyn’s full study.
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