 Good evening For those of you I'm familiar with my work every year I read through every issue of every English language nutrition journal in the world So you don't have to every year My talks are brand new because every year the science is brand new I think Apollo the most interesting most groundbreaking most practical findings to new videos and articles I upload every day to my nonprofit site nutrition facts Everything on the website is free. There's no ads. No corporate sponsorships strictly non-commercial not selling anything Just put it up as a public service as a labor of love New videos and articles Every day on the latest in evidence-based nutrition In my 2012 review I explored the role diet may play in preventing treating and reversing our deadliest disease in 2013 I covered the most common conditions and 2014 I went through our leading causes of disability this year I'd like to address some of our most dreaded diseases and Cancer tops the list in the latest Gallup poll The number one cancer killer in the United States of both men and women is lung Cancer, but if you look at the rates of lung cancer around the world they vary by a factor of 10 If there's nothing we can do to prevent lung cancer you'd assume the rates would be about the same everywhere I mean if it just happened kind of randomly, but since there's a huge variation in rates You assume there's some contributing cause and indeed we now know that smoking is responsible for 90% of Lung cancer cases, so if you don't want to die the number one cancer killer by just not smoking You can take 90% of your risk and throw it out the window Colorectal cancer is our second leading cause of cancer death and for that there's even even bigger spread around the world So it appears colon cancer doesn't just happen something makes it happen Well if our lungs can get filled with carcinogens from smoke, maybe our colons are getting filled with carcinogens from food Why do African-Americans get more colon cancer than native Africans? Why that population because colon cancer is extremely rare in native African populations like more than 50 times Lower rates than Americans white or black We used to think of it was all the fiber that they were eating however the modern African diet is highly processed Low in fiber yet. There's been no dramatic increase in colon cancer rates And we're not just talking low fiber intake. We're talking United States of America low fiber intake Down to around half the recommended daily allowance yet colon disease remains rare in Africa still 50 times less colon cancer Maybe it's because they they're thinner and exercise more No, they're not and no they don't if anything their their physical activity levels may actually be lower than ours So if they're sedentary like us eating mostly refined carbs few plant foods little fiber like us Why do they have 50 times less colon cancer? Well, there is one big difference The diets of both African-Americans and Caucasian Americans is rich in meat Whereas the native Africans diet is so low in meat and saturated fat. They have cholesterol levels Averaging 139 compared to over 200 in the US So, yeah, they don't need a lot of fiber anymore. They continue to minimize meat and animal fat intake Supporting evidence that perhaps the most powerful determinants of colon cancer is our levels of meat and animal fat intake So why do Americans get more colon cancer than Africans maybe the rarity of colon cancer in Africans is associated with their low animal product consumption But why? Did you ever see that take off of the industry slogan beef? It's what's for dinner beef. It's what's rotting in your colon, right? I Remember seeing that on a shirt With some friends and I was I was such the party pooper. No pun intended Explaining that no Meat is completely digested in the small test and never makes down to the colon. No fun hanging out with biology geeks But it turns out I was wrong It turns out up to 12 grams a day of protein can escape digestion and when it does it reaches the colon It can be turned into toxic substances like ammonia this degradation of undigested protein in the colon is called Putrefaction right so a little meat little meat can actually end up putrefying in our colon The problem is some of the byproducts of this putrefaction process can be toxic The same thing happens with other animal proteins if you eat egg whites for example some of that can putrefied to There's protein and plants do ah the difference is that animal proteins? tend to contain more sulfur-containing amino acids like methionine which is found concentrated in Fish and chicken then eggs less and dairy and beef but much less in plant foods Which can be turned into hydrogen sulfide in the colon the rotten egg gas? That beyond that doesn't just smell bad but can produce changes in the colon that increase cancer risk Now there's a divergence of opinion as to whether it's the animal fat cholesterol or animal protein That's most responsible for the increased cancer risk But you know as all three has been shown to have carcinogenic properties But I mean does it really matter since the diet high and one is is high in the others But the protein does more than just putrefied though animal protein consumption causes an increase in blood levels of cancer-proponent growth hormone called IGF one But remove meat egg white and dairy proteins from our diet and our bloodstream can suppress cancer cell growth about eight times better In effect so powerful that dr. Ornish and colleagues appeared able to reverse the progression of prostate cancer Without chemo without surgery without radiations as a plant-based diet another healthy lifestyle changes The link between animal protein and IGF one may help explain why those eating low-carb diets tend to die Sooner, but not just any low-carb diet specifically those based on animal sources whereas actually vegetable-based low-carb diets We're associated with a lower risk of death But meat-based low-carb diets are high in animal fat as well So how do we know it wasn't the saturated fat and cholesterol those killing people off had nothing to do with the animal protein? But what we'd need is a study that you know falls a few thousand people and their protein intakes out for you know 20 years or so and just see what happens who gets cancer who doesn't who lives longer, but there'd never been a study like that until now 6,000 men and women over age 50 across the US fall for 18 years and those under age 65 with high protein intakes had 75% increase overall mortality four-fold increase in dying from cancer But not all proteins specifically Animal protein which makes sense given the higher IGF one levels in those eating excess protein eating animal protein increases IGF one levels which increases cancer risk The sponsoring university sent out a press release with a memorable opening line That chicken wing you're eating could be as deadly as a cigarette Explain that eating a diet rich in animal protein during middle age makes you four times more likely to die a cancer a mortality risk Factor comparable to smoking Look almost everyone's gonna have a cancer cell or pre cancer cell in them at some point the question is does it progress and That may depend on What we eat see most malignant tumors are covered in IGF one receptors, but if we have less IGF one The tumor may not progress And it wasn't just more deaths from cancer middle-aged people eat lots of proteins from animal sources were found to have more So to be more susceptible to early death in general Crucially the same did not apply to plant proteins like beans and wasn't the fact it was the animal protein That appeared to be the culprit So what was the response to this revelation that diets high in meat eggs and dairy could be as harmful to health as smoking One nutrition scientist replied that it was wrong and potentially dangerous Not the discovery that animal protein may be killing people But the way they were telling people about it it could damage the effectiveness of important public health messages a Smoker might think why bother quitting if my cheese and ham sandwich is just as bad for me you know that reminds me of of a Famous Philip Morris cigarette ad that tried to downplay the risks by saying that you think second-hand smoke is bad Increasing the risk of lung cancer 19% Drinking one to two glasses of milk every day. Maybe three times as bad 62% increase lung cancer risk We're doubling the risk frequently cooking with oil. We're tripling your risk of heart disease eating non vegetarian We're multiplying your a six-fold eating lots of meat and dairy So they conclude let's keep some perspective the risk of lung cancer The risk of second-hand smoke may be well below the risk Reported for other everyday activity. So breathe deep basically That's like saying oh, don't worry about getting stabbed because getting shot is much worse How about neither? Two risks don't make a right Though you'll know when Philip Morris bought craft they stopped throwing dairy under the bus. So the Heem in the ham may also play a role heme iron is the form of iron found in blood and muscle And may promote cancer by catalyzing the formation of carcinogenic compounds cancer has been described as a pharotoxic disease a disease in part of iron Toxicity iron is a double-edged sword iron deficiency causes anemia But excessive iron may increase cancer risk by acting as a pro-accident Occident generating free radicals that may play a role in a number of dreaded diseases like stroke But look only the heme iron the blood and muscle iron Not the non heme iron that predominates in plans same with heart disease only the heme iron Same with diabetes only the heme iron and same with cancer In fact, you can actually tell how much meat someone is eating by looking at their tumors To characterize the mechanisms underlying meat related lung cancer development They asked lung cancer they asked lung cancer patients how much meat they were eating and examined the gene expression Patterns in their tumors and identified a signature pattern of heme related gene expression Though they just looked at lung cancer. They expect these meat related gene expressions changes to occur in other cancers as well The safest form of iron then is non heme iron found naturally in abundance and whole grains Beans split peas chickpeas and lentils dried fruit nuts and seeds How much money can be made on beans though? So the food industry came up with blood-based crisp bread made out of rye and cattle and pig blood One of the most concentrated sources of heme iron about two-thirds more than chicken blood though if blood-based crackers don't sound appetizing they do have cow blood cookies or Blood-filled biscuits the the filling does end up dark colored chocolate favored paint chocolate flavored paste with a very pleasant taste Dark color because sprayed ride pigs blood can have a darkening effect on food products color But the worry is not the color or the taste It's the heme iron which because of the potential cancer risk is not considered safe To add to foods for the general population This reminds me of Nitrosamines a class of potent carcinogens found in cigarette smoke. They are considered so toxic That carcinogens of this strength in any other consumer product destined for human consumption would be banned immediately And if that were the case they would have to ban meats One hot dog has may I know nitrosamines and nitrosamines as five cigarettes and these carcinogens are also found in fresh Unprocessed meat as well beef chicken pork But practice meatless Mondays and you've a wake up Tuesday morning with nearly all these carcinogens washed out of your system So toxic nitrosamines should be banned immediately But are still allowed for sale in cigarettes and meat because the carcinogens are found there naturally, right? Be illegal to add them, but hey if they found it, right? Just like the heme iron not safe enough to expose the general population to but allowed for sale at the deli counter The irony is that the iron and the protein are what the industry boasts about right? Those are supposed to be the redeeming qualities of meat right protein and iron But sourced from animal foods may do more harm than good And that's not to mention all the other stuff like the saturated fat and industrial pollutants and hormones that may play a role in our third leading cancer killer breast cancer Steroid hormones are unavoidable in food of animal origin But cow milk may be particular concern the hormones naturally found even organic cow's milk May have played a role in the studies that found that a relationship between milk and dairy products with human illnesses Not just like teenagers acne, but prostate breast ovarian and uterine cancers many chronic diseases plaguing the Western world as well as male Reproductive disorders from an increased risk of early puberty all the way to endometrial cancer in older women But hormonal levels in food could be particularly dangerous in the case of vulnerable populations such as young children and pregnant women In which even a small hormonal intake could mean a large change in Metabolism look dairy milk evolved to put a few hundred pounds onto a calf Right, but the consequences of a lifetime of human exposure to growth hormones milk has not been well studied Look, we know milk consumption increases IGF one which is linked to cancer and we're milking cows while they're pregnant Leading to particularly high levels of hormones Although dairy products are an important source of hormones other products of animal origin must be considered as well This could explain why women can cut their breast cancer risk more than half By not just being normal weight and limiting alcohol, but also eating mostly foods of plant origin Now to help differentiate the effects of diet from other behaviors like smoking drinking on overall cancer incidents Adventists were compared to Baptists now both discourage alcohol and tobacco But event is go further encouraging reduction of meat in general The Adventist had less cancer than the Baptist and within Adventist populations the vegetarians did even better and those eating the most plant based did the best all Edible tissues of animal origin contain Estrogen this may explain why women avoiding all animal products have a twinning rate Which is one fifth that of vegetarians and omnivores it appears vegan women have five times fewer twins presumed to be because they're not exposed all these hormones in the diet now Why is that a good thing because twin pregnancies can unfortunately be Risky Pregnancies for both mom and the babies. She may be ten times more likely to die at birth To avoid these complications women women attempting conception may want to consider avoiding milk and Dairy products and this isn't even talking about the synthetic hormones that are injected implanted and fed into farm animals You know in 1979 an epidemic of breast enlargement was noted in Italian children Poultry or veal was suspected because they're using estrogens to accelerate weight gain So after this episode Europe banned the use of anabolic growth motors and agriculture and banned the importation of American meat ever since Because we continue to inject animals with drugs like zirinol sold as ralbro magnum You grip you drip zirinol containing blood from implanted cattle into normal breast cells human breast cells in a petri dish And you transform them into breast cancer cells within 21 days Okay, but people aren't petri dishes because these anabolic growth promoters in meat production are by far the most powerful Potent hormones found in human food. We really should be testing people especially children before and after eating meat until we do that We really don't know what kind of threat they pose though the fact that zirinol is as potent as DES should concern us DES is another synthetic estrogen marketed to pregnant women all pregnant women Until 1971 when it was shown to cause cancer of the vagina in their daughters But it was also used in meat in the absence of effective federal regulation The meat industry uses hundreds of animal feed additives with little or no concern about the cancer causing and other toxic effects Illustratively after decades of misleading assurances about the safety of DES in the meat supply We finally banned it some 40 years After it was already shown to cause cancer the meat industry then promptly switched to other potentially Carcinogenic additives such as this Ralph Rowe Magnum When girls started dying of vaginal cancer DES treated meat was subsequently banned in Europe However misleading insurances including the deliberate suppression of residue data managed to delay US ban on DES in the meat supply for another eight years Where are we today? Virtually the entire US population consumes without any warning label or information Unknown unpredictable amounts of hormone residues in meat products over a lifetime if all hormonal and Carcinogenic feed additives aren't banned immediately the least we could do is Label them label the hormone residue levels in all meat products including dairy and eggs Speaking of eggs the next on the dreaded list of diseases is heart disease Eggs are the number one source of choline which can be converted by gut bacteria into a toxin that increases the risk of stroke heart attack and death eggs are also the number one source of Cholesterol Why does it matter if we have lots of cholesterol circulating throughout our bloodstream cholesterol doesn't just infiltrate our arteries and help That form those inflamed pockets of pus within our arterial walls But may play an active role in the final fatal plaque rupture Cholesterol crystals may actually pop our plaque if you look at ruptured plaques from autopsies They're filled with cholesterol crystals Protruding from the plaque cholesterol in the plaque may get so super saturated that it reaches a point like it crystallizes like rock candy And the growing crystals may then burst the plaque open Here's a cholesterol crystal shooting out the top of a test tube when you look at the tips of the crystals under a microscope They are sharp jagged needles They place a thin membrane over the top of the test to see if the needles would poke through and indeed the sharp tips of the Cholesterol needles Cut through the membrane so they showed that as cholesterol Crystallizes the peak volume then increases rapidly and then sharp tip crystals can cut through and tear membrane suggesting That's this crystallization of super saturated cholesterol in atherosclerotic plaques that can induce those final ruptures and Indeed, that's what you see on autopsy all patients who died of acute heart attacks had these perforating cholesterol crystals like this Sticking out of their plaques, but no crystals were found perforating the arteries of people with severe atherosclerosis That first died of other kind of non-cardiac causes this can explain my Dramatically lowering cholesterol levels with diet and drugs if necessary can reduce the risk of Fatal heart attack by pulling cholesterol out of the artery while decreasing the risk of crystallizing these cholesterol needles That can then pop the plaques in our arteries Hi cholesterol can also cause What's called fatty liver disease our next global chronic disease? Epidemic fatty deposits in our liver can trigger inflammation and result in liver cancer failure and death and again And maybe these crystals cholesterol crystals triggering the progression of fatty liver into serious hepatitis We're talking dietary cholesterol the cholesterol people eat in eggs and other animal products strong association between cholesterol intake and hospitalization and death from cirrhosis and liver cancer and Beyond just the crystals dietary cholesterol may off oxidize and directly cause Toxic and carcinogenic effects and it was not appreciated until recently that the average cholesterol in the United States the so-called normal levels were actually Abnormal accelerating the blockages in our arteries and putting a large fraction the normal population at risk having a normal cholesterol And it's decided where it's normal to drop dead of a heart attack not necessarily a good thing normal cholesterol levels may be fatal cholesterol levels and cholesterol lowering moderation kills Even if all Americans kept their total cholesterol below the recommended 200 millions would develop coronary artery disease strong evidence Shows we need to keep our total cholesterol under at least 150 to stem the epidemic. What kind of evidence? Well in many cultures coronary disease practically unheard of when total serum cholesterol under 150 here in the u.s. Famous Framingham heart study few under 150 develop heart disease and none died from it We cannot continue to have these public and private organizations the forefront of health leadership Recommending to the public a dietary plan that guarantees that millions will perish of the very disease that the guidelines are supposed to prevent the reason given by health authorities to not Tell people the truth for not advocating what the science shows is best Was that it might frustrate the public who may have difficulty getting their cholesterol levels that low But the public's greatest Frustration might come from not being informed of the optimal diet for health Heart disease can be reversed with a plant-based diet The evidence justifies igniting a social movement let the people lead and eventually the government will follow You know some criticize plant-based diets for being extreme you want extreme though Check out the consequences of our present diet having a breast bone sawed in half for bypass search You're having a stroke that renders one mute or having a breast colon Prostate or rectum removed for cancer now that's extreme breathe bean burrito Easy, right? instead of just bypassing the problem literally You can Treat the cause arrest and reverse heart disease are number one killer with a whole food plant-based diet Next on the list is arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis chronic inflammatory systemic disorder causing progressive destruction of the joints As many as 80% become disabled can cut 18 years off one's lifespan. There are drugs But unfortunately they're often associated with severe side effects blood loss bone loss immune suppression toxicity to liver and eyes There's got to be a better way Well populations they eat more meat do seem to have more rheumatoid arthritis and there have been some dramatic case reports of rheumatoid arthritis attacks being triggered by consumption of animal products Starting about six to ten hours after ingestion of animal protein Lasting a few days, but they stop when patients stop consuming animal products The researchers suggest that immune complex is formed by the body attacking animal proteins may promote autoimmune reactions inside the joints themselves and indeed those with rheumatoid arthritis have striking elevations in antibodies to foods like fish pork egg whites dairy proteins and even some cereals It could also be because of a pro inflammatory effect of meat fats or free radicals from the iron Accumulating the joints or other mechanisms, but look case reports Country by country analysis can really only raise questions to prove cause and effect you need an interventional study to put it to the test Here we go 13 months Long randomized controlled trial plant-based diets for rheumatoid arthritis patients put on a vegan diet for three and a half months And then switched to an egg-free vegetarian diet for the remainder compared to the control group that didn't change their diet The plant-based group significant improvement in morning stiffness within the first month cutting the number of hours They suffer from joint stiffness in half a drop in pain a drop in disability They report and suggest this is subjectively just feeling better Significant improvement in their grip strength fewer tender joints fewer tenderness per joint and less swelling They also had dramatic drops in inflammatory markers in the blood said rates you react to protein white count highly Significant and clinically relevant findings What about osteo arthritis most frequent cause of physical disability among older adults affecting about 20 million Americans effecting maybe 20% of Americans the coming decades becoming more and more widespread among younger people You know osteo arthritis is characterized by loss of cartilage within the joint and we used to think there was just kind of wear and tear But it's now generally accepted. It's an active joint disease with an inflammatory component So if the loss of cartilage is caused by inflammation, maybe if we put people on an anti-inflammatory diet It could help like with rheumatoid arthritis Using optimal nutrition and exercise as a first-line intervention could well be the best medical practice So where's the best science on what optimal nutrition might look like the China study is a prime example showing the serious health consequences The serious health consequences of high consumption of pro-inflammatory foods meat dairy fat and junk and low consumption of anti-inflammatory plant foods or at whole grains vegetables fruits beans put peas chickpeas lentils the unnatural Western diet contributes to this low-grade systemic inflammation oxidative stress tissue damage irritation placing the immune system in this kind of overactive state Which can be kind of a common denominator for these conditions like arthritis Next on the list is stroke and high blood pressure would go together because high blood pressure number one risk factor for stroke The predimed study found that Mediterranean diet with nuts could cut stroke risk nearly in half Though they were still having strokes or half as many strokes, but it was still a stroke promoting diet And heart attack promoting as well So that's what Dr. Ornish noted when he wrote in no significant reduction in the rates of heart attack death from cardiovascular disease death From any cause just that stroke benefit, but hey, I mean that's that's something I'm in Mediterranean diet certainly better than what most people are consuming, but even better Maybe a diet surrounding whole plant foods shown to actually reverse heart disease not contribute to it That may be true the authors of the study reported, but the major problem with Ornish's diet is it just doesn't taste Goods hardly anyone sticks to it But it's not true Ornish got extraordinary Adherence in his studies with no difference in any of the acceptability measures same enjoyment compared to their regular diet They even had success in barbecue country rural, North Carolina See stricter diets may meet greater acceptance among patients with then more modest eyes because they may work better Greater adherence means greater disease reversal But you don't have to be facing certain death even those young and healthy no health problems had no problem Sticking to a plant-based diet. In fact, it works a little too well This is a crossover study where they ask people to eat a plant-based diet for a few months And then go back to their original diet to note the contrast, right? But people felt so good eating healthy some of them refused to go back to their regular diet Which kind of it actually messes up the study So they were you know losing weight with no calorie counting or portion control They have more energy the periods got better better digestion better sleep and many were like away. We're not going back, right? But if doctors just presumed people aren't gonna eat this way Self-fulfilling prophecy Just like smoking doctors are less likely to tell their patients to stop smoking and couch potato docs are less likely to Exercise or things like fruits and vegetables. We need to role model healthy behavior This greatly in in enhances our credibility and effectiveness Gone are the days of traditional authority when the fat physician dropping cigarette ash down his gravy stain vest Could credibly prescribe a change in behavior One reason why plant-based diets can save so many millions because the number one risk factor for death in the world is High blood pressure letting to waste nine million People every year in the United States killing off more than a thousand a day 400,000 Americans dead every year high blood pressure affects in like 78 78 million Americans is one in three of us and as we age our pressures creep higher and higher such that by age 60 strikes more than half If it affects most of us when we get older, maybe it's less a disease and more just kind of a natural and available consequence of aging No, we've known for nearly a century that high blood pressure need not occur Researchers measured the blood pressure of a thousand people in rural Kenya who had to died centered around whole Plant foods whole grains beans vegetables fruit dark green leafy vegetables Now up until age 40 the blood pressures the rural Africans about the same as Europeans and Americans 120s over 80s But as Westerners age their pressures creep up such that by the age 60 the average person's hypertensive exceeding 140 over 90 What about those eating plant-based? their pressures improved with age Not only did they not Develop hypertension their blood pressures actually got better Now this whole 140 over 90 thing is arbitrary just like say show that lower the cholesterol the better really no safe level above 150 Blood pressure studies also support this kind of lower the better approach to blood pressure reduction Even people starting out with blood pressures under 120 over 80 appeared a benefit from blood pressure reduction So the ideal blood pressure the no benefit from reducing it further blood pressure is Actually 110 over 70 Is it even possible to get blood pressure down to 110 over 70? It's not just possible. It's normal for those eating healthy enough diet Over two years at a rural Kenyan Hospital 1800 patients are admitted. How many cases of high blood pressure did they find? zero Wow, so they must have low rates of heart disease. No, they had no rates of heart disease Not low risk no risk not a single case of arteriosclerosis. Our number one killer was found Rural China to about 110 over 70 their entire lives now look Africa China Vastly different diets, but what they share is the common theme that their plant-based day-to-day with need only even kind of on special occasions Now, why do we think it's the plant-based nature of their diet that was so protective? Because in the Western world as the American Heart Association has pointed out the only folks really in getting down that low are The strict vegetarians coming in at about 110 over 65 so Does the American Heart Association recommend a strict vegetarian diet? No, they recommend the dash diet the dash diet has been described as a lacto vegetarian diet But it's not it emphasizes fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy, but just a reduction in meat. Why not? Vegetarian I mean we've known that Decades for decades food of animal origin highly significantly associated with blood pressure. In fact, you can take vegetarians pay them enough to eat meat And you can see their blood pressures go right up So when the dash diet was created and were they just not aware of this landmark research done by Harvard Frank sacks No, they were aware the chair of the design committee that came up with the dash diet was Frank sacks see the dash diet was explicitly designed with the number one goal of Capturing the blood pressure lowering benefits of the vegetarian diet yet Contain enough animal products to make it palatable to the general public In fact sacks found that the more dairy vegetarians ate the higher their blood pressures went but you have to make the diet acceptable Recent meta-analysis found that vegetarian diets were good, but strictly plant-based diets may be better Vegetarian diets in general come for protection against cardiovascular disease some cancers and death, but completely plant-based diet Seemed out for additional protection for obesity hypertension type 2 diabetes and heart disease mortality based on the study of 89 Thousand Californians those eating meat-free diets appeared to cut the risk of high blood pressure in half But those eating meat-free egg-free and dairy-free diets cut their risk 75 percent Now if however, you're still You're eating a whole-food plant-based diet and still not getting hitting 110 over 70 There are a few plants recently found that may offer additional protection randomized placebo-controlled study found that a couple of Hibiscus tea with each meal Significantly lowers blood pressure in fact tested head-to-head against a leading blood pressure drug called cap to pearl Two cups of hibiscus tea every morning as effective as the drug Another randomized placebo-controlled trial found a few tablespoons of ground flax seeds a day Induced one of the most potent anti-hypertensive effects ever achieved in the dietary intervention two to three times more powerful than instituting an endurance exercise program There's no reason you can't do both Red wine may help, but only if the alcohol has been taken out. Sorry Raw vegetables or cooked and the answer is both the raw may actually work better Kiwi fruit didn't seem to work at all even though the study was actually published by a kiwi fruit company Maybe they should have taken direction from the California Raisin Marketing Board It came out with this study showing the raisins can reduce blood pressure But only apparently compared to fudge cookie cheeses and chips ahoy They know like the big pharma trick of choosing the right control group Next on the dreaded list is Diabetes and vision loss which go together since diabetes the leading cause of preventable middle-aged blindness Even with intensive diabetes treatment at least three injections of insulin a day or these implantable insulin pumps the best we can Offers usually just a slowing down of the progression of your disease. We can slow down your blindness with modern medicine But a half-century ago Kempner at Duke proved you could reverse it with an ultra strict plant-based died Mostly rice and fruit 44 consecutive patients with diabetic retinopathy 30% of the cases their eyes improve from like this to that That's not supposed to happen diabetic retinopathy was considered a sign of irreversible damage What does this mean in real life? Unable to even read headlines to normal vision How do we treat diabetic retinopathy these days with steroids and other drugs injected straight into the eyeball? and If that doesn't work There's always pan retinal laser photo coagulation which laser burns are placed over nearly the entire retina Surgeons literally burn out the back of your eyeball Now why would they do that? Well one theory is by if you kill off most of the retina there's a little remaining piece you have will get more of the blood flow Now when I see this along with Kempner's work I can't help but feeling like history has been reversed like yeah, can you believe 50 years ago? We had that barbaric burn out your socket surgery, but now thankfully we know that through dietary interventions alone You know we can sometimes reverse the blindness, right, but instead of learning medicine seems to have forgotten The most efficient way to avoid diabetic complications is to simply eliminate the diabetes in the first place It's often feasible with a healthy enough Diet plant-based I beat out the conventional American Diabetes Association done a head-to-head randomized controlled clinical trial Without restricting portions no calorie or carb counting review of all such studies found that those following plant-based I experienced better Improvements compared to those diets that include animal products, but this is nothing new The successful treatment of type 2 diabetes of the plant-based diet was demonstrated back in the 1930s Showing that a diet centered around vegetables fruits whole grains and beans more effective in controlling diabetes than any other diet Randomized control trial after five years no big change in the control group But the plant-based group insulin needs were cut in half and a quarter ended up off of insulin altogether Now this was a low calorie diet though So it maybe the diabetes just got better because they lost weight To tease that out what we would need is a study where they switch people to healthy diet But force them to eat so much food that they'd actually maintain their weight Then we could see if a plant-based I had benefits independent of all the weight loss We'd have to wait another 44 years, but here it is Subjects were weighed every day and they started losing weight. They were made to eat more food In fact so much food some of the participants had trouble eating all But eventually they adapted so no Significant alterations and body weight despite restricting meat dairy eggs and junk. Okay, so with zero weight loss Did plant-based diet still help? Here's the before and after insulin requirements of the 20 people that put on the diet So the number of units of insulin they had to inject themselves before and after going plant-based Overall insulin requirements were cut about 60 percent and half Were able to get off insulin altogether Despite no change in weight now. How many years did this take was it five years like the other study? No 16 days So we're talking diabetics who have had diabetes for as long as 20 years Injecting as much as 20 units of insulin a day and then as few as 13 days later. They're off insulin altogether Thanks to less than two weeks of a plant-based diet diabetes for 20 years then off all insulin in less than two weeks Here's patient 15 32 units of insulin on the control diet and then 18 days later on none Lower blood sugars on 32 units less insulin that's the power of plants and As a bonus there cholesterol drop like a rock to in 16 days to under 150 You know just like moderate changes in diet usually result only in modest reductions in cholesterol you know asking patients with diabetes to make moderate changes Achieves equally moderate results, which is one possible reason they end up on drugs injections or both everything in moderation Is a truer statement than people realize moderate changes in diet can leave one with moderate blindness moderate kidney failure moderate amputations Maybe just a few toes Moderation in all things is not necessarily a good thing The more we as physicians asked from our patients the more we are likely to get The older does shoot for the moon seems to apply maybe more effective than limiting patients a small steps That may sound more manageable, but not sufficient to actually stop the disease The only thing better than reversing diabetes not get in the first place. You know that study That purport to show that diet's high meat exit there could be as harmful to health as smoking Supposedly suggested that men that people under 65 who eat lots of animal protein four times It's likely to die from cancer diabetes, but if you look at the actual study, you'll see that's not true Those eating a lot of animal protein didn't have just four times more risk of dying from diabetes They had 73 times higher risk of dying from diabetes As one eats more and more plant-based there appears to be a stepwise drop in the rates of Diabetes down to 78% lower prevalence among those eating strictly plant-based or protection building Incrementally as one move from eating meat daily to less than daily right to just fish to no meat to no eggs and dairy either Similar pattern was found for the leading cause of vision loss among elderly cataracts This suggests is not all or nothing any steps we can make Towards eating healthier may accrue benefits But why why is total meat consumption associated with higher risk of diabetes? especially processed meat particularly poultry well, there's a whole List of potential suspects culprits and meat. Yes, it may be the animal protein Maybe it's the animal fat. Maybe it's the cholesterol. Maybe it's the iron lead in the free radical formation, which can cause inflammation Advanced glycation end products are another problem. They promote oxidative stress and inflammation and food analysis show the highest levels of the so-called glycotoxins are found in meat Here are the 15 most contaminated foods found with glycotoxin contamination Chicken pork pork chicken chicken beef chicken chicken beef chicken turkey chicken fish beef and McNuggets I'm looking actually call that chicken, but Though other foods from animal sources can also harbor these pro-oxidant chemicals Now in this study, they fed diabetics foods packed with glycotoxins Chicken fish eggs and their inflammatory markers shot up like tumor necrosis factor C-reactive protein. That's in diabetics These dietary AGEs can promote inflammatory mediators leading to tissue injury The good news is that restricting these kinds of foods may suppress the inflammatory effects of these Glycotoxin may be kind of the missing link between increased consumption of animal fat and meat and subsequent development of type 2 diabetes in the first place as well as Alzheimer's disease the final disease on our dreaded list Dietary AGEs appear to be important risk factors for Alzheimer's disease as well If you measure the urine levels of glycotoxins flowing through the bodies of older adults Those with the highest levels went on to suffer the greatest cognitive decline over the subsequent nine years as well as the greatest brain Shrinkage is called cerebral atrophy all helping to explain while though why those who eat the most meats May have tripled the risk of getting dementia Compared to longtime Vegetarians the bottom line is that the same diet that may help prevent the other dreaded diseases Cancer heart attacks arthritis stroke high blood pressure diabetes vision loss may also help prevent brain loss and Alzheimer's as well You know one disease is not on the list is ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease Which strikes healthy middle-aged people seemingly a random holds little help hope for treatment and survival Although mental capacity stay intact ALS paralyzes people and most patients die within three years when they can no longer breathe or swallow At any given time 30,000 Americans are fighting for their lives We each have About one and four hundred chance of getting this disease in our lifetime And it appears to be on the rise around the world What causes it? Well, there's a neurotoxin produced by blue-green algae in our rivers lakes and oceans that ends up in Seafood which is currently a strong contender as the cause of or at least a major Contributed to ALS and maybe Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well Researchers in Miami found this BMA a neurotoxin the brains of fluridians that died of sporadic Alzheimer's and ALS Significant levels and 49 of the 50 samples from Alzheimer's and ALS patients Same thing was found up in the Pacific Northwest and in the brains of those dying from Parkinson's disease You can also apparently pick up more of this neurotoxin in the hair of live ALS patients compared to controls So is this neurotoxin present in Florida seafood? Yes, and both freshwater fish and shellfish oysters bass center and out into the bay Not just in Florida on up the eastern Seaboard out in Midwest so this could explain ALS clusters around lakes in New Hampshire or fish in Wisconsin or Blue crabs from the Chesapeake around where I live or seafood eaters in France or in the Finland's lake land district around the Baltic Sea Building up particularly in fish Mussels and oysters. There is a general consensus that these harmful algal blooms are increasing worldwide Thanks apart to industrialized agriculture, which may increase the exposure to this neurotoxin Leading to possible increased risk of these horrible neurodegenerative diseases with Substantial and ever-growing evidence that this neurotoxin does play a role in the onset and progression of neurodegenerative diseases The most important question is what mode does activity does BMA exert? Oh? It's not that the most important question is how do we reduce our exposure? We know the presence of this neurotoxin in aquatic food change could be a significant human health hazard So until more is known it may be prudent to reduce our risk by limiting exposure to BMA in the human diet Now there are neurotoxins in the dairy supply too Which may explain the link between milk consumption and Parkinson's a high levels of organic Organic chlorine pesticide residues are found in milk and the brains of Parkinson's patients and other pollutants like tetrahydride So quinoline which is actually what scientists use to try to induce the disease in primates found the milk supply Particularly cheese. Um, so maybe the dairy industry should do these toxins screenings of milk. Good luck with that Now you could always just not drink this stuff, but then What about your bone? That's a marketing ploy if look at the science milk does not appear to protect against hip fracture risk Whether drinking during the adult years or drinking during one's teen years If anything milk consumption is associated with a borderline increase in fracture risk in men This suggests a partial explanation for the long-standing enigma that hip fracture rates are highest in Populations with the greatest milk consumption This enigma Swedish research team puzzled studies again and again its own tendency for higher risk of fracture with higher milk consumption Well, there is a rare birth defect called galactosemia where babies are born without the enzyme needed to Detoxify the galactose in milk so they end up with high levels of galactose in their bloodstream which causes bone loss So maybe the researchers figured even in normal people that can detoxify the stuff Maybe it's not so good for the bones to be Consuming all that galactose on all day and black just doesn't just hurt the bones That's what scientists use to cause premature aging and lab animals. They slip them a little galactose short in their lifespan Oxidative stress inflammation brain degeneration just like one to two glasses of milk's worth of galactose a day Well, we're not rats though But you know given the high amount of galactose and milk Recommendations to increase milk intake for the prevention of fracture could be a conceivable contradiction So they decided to put it to the test looking at milk intake and mortality as well as fracture risk to test the theory 100,000 men and women fall for up to 20 years and milk drinking women had higher rates of death More heart disease significantly more cancer for each daily glass of milk Three glasses a day was associated with nearly twice the risk of death They also had significantly more bone and hip fractures to more milk more fractures Milk drinking men also had higher rates of death for some reason you never see any of this in any of the milk ads Okay, so where does this leave us? What are the common threads? If you look at for the major dietary quality scoring systems, which have all been associated with the extending lifespan less heart disease Less cancer they all share only four things in common. What are those four things more fruit more vegetables more whole grains more nuts and beans They're all built around a common core of Diets rich in plant foods were the opposite food patterns Western diet higher risk So we need to optimize the food environment support whole grains vegetables fruit and plant-based sources of protein Taking the diet quality indexes to the logical conclusion the most plant-based diet Comes out the most healthy diet But again doesn't have to be all or nothing I mean we now have evidence that simple advice to increase the consumption of plant foods and decrease the consumption of animal foods actually has a survival advantage and Boy, do we need it in terms of life expects the US is down around 27th of the 34 leading free market democracies people in Slovenia live all year longer than citizens of the United States why most deaths in the United States are preventable and related to nutrition According to the most rigorous analysis of risk factors to date ever published the number one cause of death in the United States and The number one cause of disability is our diet bumping tobacco Smoking to number two smoking now only kills about a half million Americans a year whereas diet now kills hundreds of thousands more Let me end with a thought experiment Imagine yourself a smoker in the 1950s The average per capita cigarette consumption was about 4,000 cigarettes a year Think about that the average American smoked half a pack a day The media was telling you to smoke and famous athletes agreed Even Santa Claus cared enough about your health to want you to smoke I mean you want to keep fit and stay slender so you make sure to smoke and Eat hot dogs to stay trim and eat lots of sugar to stay slim and trim right less fattening than that apple I mean she should me come on though Apples do connote goodness and freshness Reads one internal tobacco industry memo which brings up many possibilities for youth-oriented cigarette. Oh shameless In addition to staying fit and slender and soothing your throat for digestion's sake you smoke I mean no curative power is claimed for Philip Morris, but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure So safe and sorry better smoke Like eating smoking was a family affair G mommy you sure enjoy your Marlboro. You're darn tootin Just just one question mom. Can you afford not to? Enjoy smoke Marlboro Your kids were giving you cigarettes in the 50s. Even your dog was giving you cigarettes Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere after all They're so round so oh no woman ever says no to Winchester. They're so round so first so fully packed After all John Wayne smoked them till I got lung cancer and died Even the paleo folks were smoking So were the doctors yes No, look, this is not to say there wasn't controversy within the medical profession. Yes, some you know doctors smoke camels, but Other physicians preferred lucky so there actually was disagreement there was you know eminent doctors on high and impartial medical authority call for Philip Morris even the specialist could not agree which Cigarette was better for your throat so best to stick to the science right and more scientists smoke this brand actually This should not be rocket science But even the rocket scientists have their own brand for the man who thinks for himself What was the government saying? smoke lucky I Mean who wouldn't want to give their throat a vacation? Not a single case of throat irritation How could your throat nose or throat be adversely affected when cigarettes are just as pure as the water you drink? Look, and if you do get irritated no problem your doctor can write you a prescription for cigarettes This is from the Journal of the American Medical Association After all don't smoke is advice hard for patients to swallow Reminds me of a recent survey of doctors found the number one reason doctors don't prescribe heart healthy diets today Was their perception that patients fear of being deprived of all the junk they're eating right after all Philip or Morris reminded us We want to keep our patients happy To make a radical change in habit would would do harm your doctor you don't harm your patients The tobacco industry gave these medical journals big money to run ads like these not a problem though Philip Morris claims come from completely reliable sources Based on studies by recognized authorities Published in leading medical journals even kindly offering to sell free free packs of cigarettes to doctors They can test them out themselves. So I'll see you at the next AMA convention in the smokers lounge What did the American Medical Association have to say for itself? Well like most other medical journals accepted tobacco as they've yet to see an autopsy Official editorial board said with a single lesion with a marble lesion on it right to label on it So when mainstream medicine is saying smoking on balance may be beneficial for you when the American Medical Association is saying then And then where could you turn back then if you just wanted the facts What's the new data advanced by science? She was too tired for fun and then she smoked a camel Babe Ruth spoke of proof positive medical science. That is when he still could speak Before he died of throat cancer Now some of the signs did leak out Causing a dip from about 11 cigarettes a day per person down to about 10 But those that got scared could always choose the cigarettes that take the fear out of smoking Or even better choose the cigarette that gives you the greatest health protection now if by some miracle There was a smoking facts org website back then that could deliver the science Directly bypassing commercially corruptible institutional filters. You would have become aware of studies like this an Adventist study in California in 1958 that showed that non smokers may have at least 90% less lung cancer But this wasn't the first when famed surgeon Michael DeBakey was asked why his studies published back in the 30s Linking smoking and lung cancer were ignored. He had to remind people what it was like back then We were a smoking society. It was in the movies Medical meetings were one big haze of smoke. It's like debates over cigarettes and lung cancer in Congress taking place in smoke-filled rooms, right? That makes me wonder what they serve at the Dietary Guidelines Committee breakfast buffets to this day, right? A famous statistician by the name of Ronald Fisher railed against what he called Propaganda to convince the public that cigarette smoking was dangerous He made invaluable contributions to the field But his analysis of lung cancer and smoking was flawed by an unwillingness to examine the entire body of data available Now his smoke screen may have been because he was a paid consultant to the tobacco industry All right, but also because he himself was a smoker, right? Part of his resistance may have been to the association may have been because of his own fondness for smoking Which makes me wonder about some of the favorite foods that nutrition researchers may have of this day, right? You know, it always strikes me as ironic that when Vegetarian researchers come out forward and list their diet as a potential conflict of interest Whereas not once in the 70,000 articles on meat in the medical literature Have I ever seen a researcher disclose their non vegetarian habits? Because it's normal just like smoking was normal So back to our thought experiment if you're a smoker in the 50s in the know What do you do? With access to the science you realize that the best available balance of evidence suggests that your smoking habit not good for you Right, so Do you change your smoking habits or do you wait? If you wait until your physician tells you between puffs to quit You may have cancer by then if you wait Until the powers that be officially recognized like the surgeon general did in the subsequent decade You could be dead by then it took 25 years for the surgeon general report to come out It took more than 7,000 studies and the deaths of countless smokers before the first surgeon general report Against smoking was finally released in the 1960s You'd think maybe after the first maybe six thousand studies it would have maybe give people a little heads up or something powerful industry One wonders how many people are currently suffering needlessly from dietary diseases Maybe we should have stopped smoking after the 700th study like this With so much money and personal habit at stake There's always going to be dissenters but given the seriousness of the disease of some total of evidence We shouldn't wait and to put preventive measures in place As a smoker in the 50s on one hand You had all of society The government the medical profession itself telling you to smoke in on the other hand The science if you were lucky to know about studies like this Now fast-forward 55 years, you know, there's a new Adventist study out of California warning Americans about the risks of something else They may be putting into their mouth It's not just that one study according to latest review total sum of evidence suggests that mortality from all causes put together May the dreaded diseases schemic heart disease cerebovascular diseases like stroke Significantly lower in those eating meat-free diets, in addition to less cancer and diabetes So instead of going along with America's smoking habits in the 50s Imagine you or someone, you know Going along with America's eating habits today What do you do? With access to the science you realize that the best available balance of evidence suggests that you're eating habits Probably not good for you If you wait until your physician between bites tells you to change your diet It could be too late In fact, even after the surgeon general's report the medical community still dragged their feet the AMA actually went on record Withholding support from the surgeon general report if they didn't endorse it Could it have been because they had just received ten million dollars from the tobacco industry? Hmm Okay, so look we know why the AMA we've been sucking up to the tobacco industry, but why weren't individual doctors speaking out? Well, there were a few gallant souls ahead of their time just as there are today Standing up Against industries killing millions, but why not more? Maybe it's because the majority of physicians themselves smoke cigarettes Just like the majority of physicians today eat foods that contribute to our epidemic of dietary disease What was the AMA AMA's rallying cry back then everything in moderation sound familiar? Extensive scientific studies prove smoking in moderation. Okay Today the food industry used the same tobacco industry Tactics supplying misinformation twisting the signs the same scientists for hire paid to downplay the risks of second-hand smoke and chemicals Are the same hired by the National Confectioners Association to downplay the risks of candy and the same hired by the meat industry to downplay the risks of meat? Consumption of animal products and processed foods cause at least 14 million deaths around the world every year 14 million death 14 million people dead every year This is not a failure of individual wheel willpower says the director general of the World Health Organization This is a failure of political will to take on big business Which is a formidable opposition of food governments are willing to prioritize health over big business As we learn from the experience with the tobacco industry powerful corporation can sell the public Just about anything. There's one thing we learned from tobacco experience wrote one district judge It's how powerful profits can be a motivator even at the cost of millions of lives and unspeakable suffering May have taken 25 years for the surgeon general report to come out still longer for mainstream medicine to get on board But now they're no longer ads Encouraging people to inhale to their hearts can tend now their ads from the CDC fighting back food wise there was meat for health defense or nourishing bacon or Doctors prescribe meats or soda for that matter Thank heavens tricks are habit for me now Just like there were those in the 30s 40s and 50s on the vanguard trying to save lives today There are those turning ads about what you can do with pork butt to what the pork can do to your butt The physician's committee for responsible medicines Meat is the new tobacco campaign is dr. Barnard tried to get across an editorial published in the American Medical Journal of Associations Journal of Ethics Plant-based diets can now be considered the nutritional equivalent of quitting smoking How many more people have to die? How many more people have to die before the CDC encourages people not to wait until open-heart surgery to start eating healthy as well How long is that gonna take though? Just like we don't have to wait until our doctors quit smoking to quit ourselves We don't have to wait until a doctor takes a nutrition class or cleans up their own diet for changing our own eating habits Look, it's not your doctor's fault right writes a group of prominent physicians There was a severe deficiency of nutrition education to all levels of medical training, right? We just never taught it We know a plant whole food plant-based diet has been proven to reverse our number one killer Protect against high-2 by diabetes and cancer. So how's this knowledge affected medical education? It hasn't Despite the neglect nutrition medical education the public considers physicians to be trusted sources But if doctors don't know what they're talking about they could be contributing to diet related diseases To stem the surging tide of chronic illness physicians need to become part of the solution But we don't have to wait for that to happen. No longer do patients have to be so patient Doctors no longer hold a professional monopoly on health information. It's been a democratization of knowledge And so until the system changes we have to take responsibility For our own health and for our family's health, right? We can't wait for society to catch up to the science because it's a matter of life and death In 2015 dr. Kim Williams became president of the American College of Cardiology He was asked why he follows his own advice to eat a plant-based diet He said I don't mind dying dr. Williams replied. I just don't want it to be my fault Thank you If you miss last year's talk, I have it on DVD and the year before that in the year before that you should have come to Summerfest that's it, but as well as 25 other DVDs all proceeds from sale of my books DVDs speaking engagements All goes to charity speaking of which mark your calendar December 8th of this year new book coming out how not to die December 8th very excited by not only a compilation of all my work with all the science thousands of citations But also a practical guide I go through my kind of daily dozen checklist of all the things I try to include my own diet how much greens to eat on my beans eat how much exercise I'm much sleep working on for over a year can't wait for everyone to read it And in the meantime all my work is available free at nutrition facts or thanks again We are so fortunate to have dr. Gregor with us. I don't think there's anyone else on the planet that could do what you do Thank you so much, and we are honored for you to debut this with us every year. Thank you so much See everyone over at the LLC