Are treatments for heart disease the modern equivalent of radical mastectomy?
Cardiologist Caldwell Esselstyn, MD reminds us that it is not so long ago that the treatment of choice for breast cancer was radical mastectomy – a disfiguring surgical procedure that often caused lifelong pain and loss of function. This practice continued for decades in the face of evidence that far less invasive procedures were equally effective.
Likewise, bypass surgery, balloon angioplasty, and a host of drugs continue to be prescribed in spite of evidence that nutrition can cure even advanced forms of heart disease.
You can read about this in a recent article Dr. Esselstyn wrote for the American Journal of Cardiology – www.ajconline.org – and also in his excellent book entitled “Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease”.
This story began in 1985 when Dr. Esselstyn tried against all odds to save a group of terminal heart patients who had already been administered every type of surgery and drug known and were sent home with a prognosis of weeks, or at most months, to live.
Rather than accepting what seemed inevitable, Dr. Esselstyn had them follow a strict vegan diet. All improved. Many recovered, and the book even shows images of blocked arteries that cleared within a few years on his diet.
Changes documented by Dr. Esselstyn in people who followed his diet include weight loss, normalization of blood pressure, resolution of type 2 diabetes, angina, erectile dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease and carotid disease.
According to Dr. Esselstyn, refined grain products, sugar, and processed oils in the Western diet set up a degenerative process leading to inflammation, nitric oxide depletion and the development of heart disease. I agree, but Dr. Esselstyn also includes meat and dairy as culprits and I question whether this is actually true.
The results Dr. Esselstyn achieved in patients with advanced cardiovascular disease are well-documented and cannot be denied. These patients’ bodies were ravaged by the effects of chronic inflammation and illness. Strict vegan diets are very detoxifying to these patients and can nurse them back to health.
However, I do not agree with Dr. Esselstyn’s conclusion that everybody should adopt this diet to prevent heart disease. In my professional experience this diet can be unbalancing and cause some people’s health to deteriorate.
My views on this topic are based on the seminal work conducted by Dr. Weston Price in the 1930’s and 40’s. Dr. Price traveled across the globe and studied the diets of traditional societies in every continent. His work is summarized in the outstanding book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.” The traditional people he studied all enjoyed vibrant health and modern-day disease like cancer and heart disease were rare if present at all in those societies.
Dr. Price would agree with Dr. Esselstyn when it comes to refined grains, sugar, and processed oils. However, every traditional group he studied included some animal protein in their diet. Among them, the traditional Inuit stand out. They ate a diet made up almost entirely of wild-caught meat while at the same time enjoying near-perfect health with no known cases of heart disease. In time, as the Inuit transitioned to a typical Western diet of processed foods, sugar, and refined grains they developed all the illnesses of civilization, including cancer, obesity and heart disease.
In my view Dr. Esselstyn’s vegan program is a wonderful resource for people suffering from advanced cardiovascular disease. Others who wish to maintain or improve their health are best served by following a modern equivalent of the traditional diets researched by Dr. Price. This would include some animal protein and fat
, but would avoid processed foods, sugar, and other modern foods. You can learn more about this diet and its health benefits here: http://www.westonaprice.org/
