Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 In clinical research it's been shown to help lower blood cholesterol, but more to the point, it's also been shown to reduce the symptoms of BPH. Four double-blind, placebo-controlled studies including 519 men and lasting from 4 to 26 weeks concluded that beta-sitosterol significantly improved urological symptoms and flow measures.
Nettles (stinging nettles) are frequently combined with other "prostate herbs" like saw palmetto and have long been believed to have a beneficial effect on prostate health. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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 Here, once again, is the basic message of my research: no one who achieves and maintains total blood cholesterol of 150 mg/dL and LDL levels below 80 mg/dL—using strict plant-based nutrition and, where necessary, low doses of cholesterol-reducing drugs— experiences progression of heart disease. Many, in fact, are able to rejoice at clear medical evidence that they have actually reversed the effects of their disease.
Recall that three-quarters of the population of this planet has never known heart disease. |
Lester A. Mitscher and Victoria Toews
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 These risk factors include:
• being male
• advancing age
• a family history of heart disease
• elevated blood cholesterol levels
• hypertension (high blood pressure)
• use of tobacco
• diabetes
• obesity
• stress
• use of oral contraceptives
• excessive alcohol intake
• malnutrition
• lack of physical activity
However, following further epidemiological research, cholesterol quickly took center stage as one of the most important risk factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases. |
Elaine Magee
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 According to Diane Morris, PhD, nutrition consultant to the Flax Council of Canada, clinical studies show that eating between 2 and 6 tablespoons of ground flaxseed daily for as little as 4 weeks lowers blood cholesterol 6 to 9 percent and LDL cholesterol by 9 to 18 percent. "However, I should point out that most clinical trials use amounts closer to 4 to 6 tablespoons of ground flax daily," notes Dr. Morris.
Enjoy almonds. |
Abram Hoffer, PhD, MD, FRCP(C) and Dr. Jonathan Prousjy, DPHE, DSC, ND, FRSH
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 Their mean blood pressure dropped 20%, mean blood sugar dropped 18%, and mean blood cholesterol dropped 36%.
"This is astounding," Dr Colin Rose, cardiologist and Associate Professor of Medicine at McGill University, remarked. "Conventional Western medical
74 wisdom dictates that only 5% to 10% of blood cholesterol can be influenced by diet, and that only rare 'salt sensitive' people will change their blood pressures minimally on a low-salt diet. Most physicians we know believe that these parameters are genetically determined and can be altered only with drugs, if at all. |
Elaine Magee
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| A few years ago, a meta-analysis of 34 trials reported that soy protein lowered blood cholesterol, and the mean decrease in LDL cholesterol was 12.9 percent; shortly thereafter, the FDA proposed a health claim for soy protein and heart disease. But in 2006, the American Heart Association issued a statement questioning whether soy protein really does lower cholesterol, although it was suggested that soy foods can play an important role in the diet by displacing foods high in saturated fat. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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| I checked blood pressure and weight and had blood cholesterol drawn and analyzed. During the first year of the study, I called each patient the night of the tests to report the results and make any adjustments in nutrition or medication that seemed necessary.
It is highly unusual for a physician to see a patient every two weeks for more than five years, but it seemed absolutely crucial to me that I provide all the support and focus for them that I possibly could. |
Elaine Magee
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| Eating beans may also help prevent colon cancer and reduce blood cholesterol, a leading cause of heart disease.
Beans may help reduce the risk for cardiovascular disease. In terms of possible heart protection, start with the antioxidants and phytochemicals in beans, then add in the fact that beans are one of the highest-fiber plant foods on the planet, with V2 cup generally contributing 7 grams of fiber. Fiber is one of many nutritional factors that may lessen your risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, and, generally, the more fiber in your diet, the lower your risk. |
| They may reduce blood cholesterol, enhance the immune system, and decrease the risk of certain cancers.
But before you stock up on margarine, consider this: As a group, nuts and seeds are a rich source of phytosterols, too. A recent analysis of 27 nut and seed products found that sesame seeds, wheat germ, pistachio nuts, and sunflower seeds have the highest concentration of phytosterols. Per 100-gram serving, sesame seeds and wheat germ contain more than 400 milligrams of phytosterols; pistachios have 279 milligrams, and sunflower seed kernels have 270 milligrams. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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| Before long, my blood cholesterol was 119 mg/dL—without the use of any cholesterol-lowering medication. This was especially reassuring, since my late father, who had his first heart attack at age forty-three, had a total cholesterol as high as 300 mg/dL.
I was convinced that I could help others achieve similar results, and that the effects on their health would be nothing short of dramatic.
3
Seeking the Cure
In 1985, William Sheldon, chief of the Department of Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic, graciously granted my request to attend a departmental meeting. |
| He stuck to the plan rigorously, eventually reducing his total blood cholesterol count to just 89 mg/dL and cutting his LDL, or "bad" cholesterol, from 98 mg/dL to 38 mg/dL.
About two and a half years after Joe adopted a strict plant-based diet, there came a point when he was exceptionally busy professionally, under considerable stress, and he noted a return of some discomfort in his chest. His cardiologists, worried about the recurrence of angina, asked for more tests to see what was going on.
On the day of his follow-up angiogram, I went to Dr. Crowe's office after work. |
| But rather than state these facts clearly to the public, rather than set a truly safe level of blood cholesterol and advise Americans how they can achieve it, the experts balk—often explaining that the public might have an overwhelming sense of frustration at not being able to comply with the nutrition changes necessary.
I think this is wrong. We should tell the public what is healthiest for them. People will decide for themselves whether they wish to comply. We, as scientists, must at least tell them what is optimal. |
Lester A. Mitscher and Victoria Toews
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| In contrast, high
Cholesterol and Cardiovascular Disease
According to the National Cholesterol Education Program, the risk of cardiovascular disease varies with blood cholesterol levels. For instance, if your total cholesterol level is 200 and your HDL-cholesterol is 50, you have a ratio of 4.0 to 1, indicating a low to moderate risk of developing cardiovascular disease. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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| A person who maintains blood cholesterol under 150 mg/dL for a lifetime will not develop coronary artery disease—even if he or she smokes, has a family history of coronary disease, suffers from hypertension, and is obese!
One case in point: the Papua Highlanders of New Guinea. These people are traditionally heavy smokers. Even nonsmokers among them breathe in lethal doses of secondhand smoke in communal hutches. Not surprisingly, the Papua Highlanders suffer many lung disorders, thanks to the smoking. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins) don't bring the body back to a healthful condition in which the liver can normalize blood cholesterol. Instead, statins artificially lower the level of cholesterol in the blood by blocking the enzyme in the liver that is responsible for making cholesterol. However, by creating an artificial "cholesterol famine" in the liver, bile is not formed properly, which increases the risk of gallstones and hinders the proper digestion of food. |
Dan Buettner
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 Studies have indicated that nuts may help protect the heart by reducing total blood cholesterol levels. In a large, ongoing population study from Harvard University's School of Public Health, people who often ate nuts had lower risks of coronary heart disease than those who rarely or never ate nuts. The Adventist Health Study (AHS) showed that the person who ate nuts at least five times per week, two ounces per serving, lived on average about two years longer than those who didn't eat nuts. |
Ann M. Coulston and Carol J. Boushey
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 Change in total blood cholesterol (mmol/l)
FIGURE 10 Mean (SE) changes in blood total cholesterol concentration associated with replacing dietary saturated fat by polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats and with reducing dietary cholesterol [26]. Reprinted with permission from the British Journal of Medicine. have been mainly credited to an increase in HDL-C [207-209], thus inhibiting LDL oxidation during the atherogenic process. In a meta-analysis of 42 trials investigating alcohol consumption and HDL-C, a 24. |
Dan Buettner
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| I'm not sure we have all the answers, but one thing certainly is that they have an effect on lower blood cholesterol."
"What about nuts that are roasted in oil?" I asked, glancing quickly behind Butler to see if there's a bag of cashews or almonds beside his jug of water.
"Doesn't matter," Fraser replied. "Nuts have hard, thin skin, so that doesn't have much impact."
"Now when you talk about AHS-1 and cancer, it gets a little more controversial," he cautioned. |
| That has a huge impact on cardiovascular disease, on blood pressure, on blood cholesterol, on inflammation related to hormones and the way it stimulates cells in the body."
I noted with a pang of regret that my nonvegetarian body was starving and could also still use a shot of caffeine. I drained my second glass of water, hoping that one of these good gentlemen would break out the nuts. But Fraser wasn't quite finished. "If I could stress just one point to you, it would be this," he said. "The Adventist experience, or lifestyle, we are studying doesn't have to be that unique. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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 Garbanzos Curb Overeating
Fiber—particularly soluble fiber—can also lower blood cholesterol levels and slow the absorption of sugar, which is hugely important both for people with diabetes and for people with any blood sugar challenges (metabolic syndrome). A high-fiber diet will probably reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Legumes in general cause less of a rise in blood glucose than foods like potatoes or almost any wheat-based food. And eating a high-fiber diet may also help with weight loss. |
| Japanese researchers have reported that consumption of shiitake mushrooms lowers blood cholesterol by as much as 45 percent, due to an active compound in them called eritadenine.
Reishi
Sometime in the third century B.C.E., the Chinese emperor Shih Huang was reputed to have sent a fleet of ships to search for a mushroom called the "Elixir of Immortality." That mushroom? The reishi. Its special chemical makeup was thought to be a tonic for a long and healthy life. In traditional Chinese medicine, reishi is still considered to be among the highest class of tonics. |
Andreas Moritz
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 Lowering blood cholesterol by cutting out fats in the diet and/or artificially reducing it through statin drugs has little or no benefit in the control of heart disease. The most helpful action is cutting out all animal protein (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, milk) from the diet until the condition has been completely normalized. If any of these foods are being reintroduced, they should only be eaten occasionally and very sparingly. |
Andreas Moritz
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| After completing two liver cleanses, my blood cholesterol levels dropped to 177 mg percent.
My 65-year-old doctor couldn't believe the result. He has never seen such a rapid turnaround. He was intrigued and wanted to learn more about the liver cleanse.
"In addition, my required dosage of Synthroid?for my hypothyroidism has been reduced from 0.175 to 0.125 mg during the past two years, with further reductions coming. I recently finished my sixth liver cleanse and I look forward to continued improvements of my health and vitality."
D. P. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| What's more, they may help lower blood cholesterol and promote urinary health.
Bilberries, a close European cousin of the blueberry, have been shown to promote eye health and protect against glaucoma and cataract progression. In fact, wild blueberries are called "the vision fruit" in Japan, because they have very high concentrations of anthocyanins, natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatories whose benefits include reducing eyestrain and improving night vision. |
Andreas Moritz
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| Television-stress" is especially pronounced among children, whose blood cholesterol can rise by 300 percent within a few hours of watching television. Such excessive secretions of cholesterol alter the composition of bile, which causes the formation of gallstones in the liver.
Exposure to television is a great challenge for the brain. It is far beyond the brain's capacity to process the flood of incoming stimuli that emanate from an overwhelming number of rapidly changing picture frames appearing on the TV screen every split second. The resulting stress and strain takes its toll. |
Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
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| There were no signs of kidney disease, and high blood cholesterol was unknown. Yet when these native people moved to the "big cities," changed their diets, and gave up eating coconut oil in favor of the refined polyunsaturated vegetable oils that are believed to be "healthier," their incidence of heart disease increased dramatically.
A V2 cup of shredded coconut meat has almost 4 g of fiber, 142 mg of potassium, 13 mg of magnesium, less than 3 g of sugar, and—most important—13 g of the most heart-healthy, life-supporting fat on the planet (more on that in a moment). |
Gabriel Cousens
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 The American Dietetic Association (ADA), the world's largest organization of professional dieticians, published the following statements in June 2003 on a vegetarian diet and lifestyle:9
Vegetarians have been reported to have lower body mass indices than nonvegetarians, as well as lower rates of death from ischemic heart disease; vegetarians also show lower blood cholesterol levels; lower blood pressure; and lower rates of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer. |
| Research also indicates that high-fructose corn syrup interferes with the heart's use of key minerals like magnesium, copper, and chromium, in addition to being implicated in elevated blood cholesterol levels and the creation of blood clots. All of these factors contribute to cardiovascular disease—the leading cause of death among diabetics. High-fructose corn syrup has also been found to inhibit the action of white blood cells so that they are unable to defend the body against harmful foreign invaders.38
There are not any real accidents here. |
Wendy Bazilian, DRPH, MA, RD, Steven Pratt, MD, Kathy Matthews
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 We know that if you lose just 10 percent of your body weight you can decrease your risk for heart disease, improve your heart function, reduce your blood pressure, and even reduce harmful levels of blood cholesterol and triglycerides.
What's your personal interim goal? If, for example, you currently weigh 180, then 18 pounds is 10 percent of your current weight. If you subtract 18 from 180 you arrive at your interim weight loss goal of 162. |
Michael Pollan
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 Adding omega-3 fatty acids to the diet (that is, eating more of a certain kind of fat) "substantially reduces coronary and total mortality" in heart patients, and replacing saturated fats with polyunsaturated fats lowers blood cholesterol, which they deem an important risk factor for CHD. (Some researchers no longer do, pointing out that half the people who get heart attacks don't have elevated cholesterol levels, and about half the people with elevated cholesterol do not suffer from CHD. |
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