By Dr. Don Fisher
In 2013, the International Journal of Epidemiology reprinted a landmark article from the ‘50s that started out with a shocking statement: “In the African population of Uganda, coronary heart disease is almost non-existent.”
Our number one cause of death in the United States almost nonexistent in another country? What were they eating?
According to the report: Plantains and sweet potatoes, other vegetables, corn, millet, pumpkins, tomatoes, and “green leafy vegetables are taken by all.”
Their protein was almost entirely from plant sources, and they had the cholesterol levels to prove it, similar to modern-day plant-eaters.
“Apart from the effects of diet and of the blood cholesterol levels,” the researchers couldn’t figure out any other reasons for their freedom from heart disease.
These 50-year-old findings are still relevant today. They showed “dietary intake to be a key, modifiable, established and well-recognized risk factor for heart attacks. This contrasts with the rather desperate search in recent decades for even newer cardiovascular risk factors.”
We have the only risk factor we need — cholesterol. We’ve known it for 50 years, and we can do something about it.
According to the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Cardiology, the only risk factor required for atherosclerotic plaques to form is elevated LDL, or “bad” cholesterol in our blood. Dr. William Clifford Roberts is the distinguished cardiac pathologist who doubles as the Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Cardiology.
To drop our LDL (bad) cholesterol, we need to drop our intake of three things:
*Trans fat (found in junk food and animal foods);
*Saturated fat (found in mostly animal foods); and
*Dietary cholesterol (found exclusively in animal foods).
Heart disease may be a choice. Choosing to eat a whole food plant-based diet will significantly reduce your risk of heart disease.
Dr. Don Fisher, D.O., is a physician and the medical director of The Best Program, Inc., in Fort Lauderdale. Contact him online at www.TheBestProgram.net.
