Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Written by Dr. Fuhrman's colleague Dr. Steven Acocella, MS, D.C., DACBN, Board Certified Clinical Nutritionist, and a Diplomat of the American Clinical Board of Nutrition.

Excess weight, especially in middle age dramatically increases the risk of developing heart disease, stroke and other morbid conditions even in the absence of more established indicators of risk such as smoking, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concludes that excess weight itself puts people at greater risk for significant health problems. This massive study followed over 17,000 men and women ages 31 to 64 over an average of 32 years. Each participant was assigned to one of 5 groups based upon risk factors independent of weight that included past or present tobacco use, elevated blood pressure and elevated cholesterol. The low-risk group never smoked and had normal cholesterol levels and blood pressure. The moderate-risk group didn't smoke but had either slight elevations in cholesterol or blood pressure. The intermediate-risk group had either high cholesterol, high blood pressure or currently smoked. The elevated-risk group and high-risk group had any 2 or all 3 three of these risk factors, respectively. The results were alarming.

The incidence of cardiovascular disease, stroke, heart attacks and diabetes were observed as well as hospitalizations and deaths related to these conditions. The body mass index (height to weight ratio) was calculated for each participant and compared health status to BMI for each group. The study evidenced that individuals with no cardiovascular risk factors as well as for those with 1 or more risk factors who were overweight in middle age had a significantly higher risk of hospitalization and mortality from heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes than those who were of normal weight. In fact, the risk of death from heart disease was an ominous 43 percent higher within the low-risk group (no risk factors) for overweight and obese individuals as compared to those of normal weight.

I often hear overweight people proudly stating that their cholesterol numbers and blood pressure readings are normal intimating that in some way their weight is less of a problem. I have literally had patients say that although they know they're overweight it's "OK" because their cholesterol is fine. Not fine. This perception may grant some overweight people a false sense of security when it comes to their health. This fool's paradise is often fostered by the barrage of drug commercials, other media messages and even uninformed health professionals that overemphasize some risk factors while understating the importance of attaining a healthy weight, especially in middle age.

This important study clearly demonstrates that just because those lab results are great, excess weight alone puts you at almost double the risk for an untimely death.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Share Link

It is not merely consuming too much fat that causes diseases. It is not merely eating empty-calorie foods or the high consumption of animal foods, such as milk, cheese, butter, meat, and chicken that causes premature deaths in America. It is also what we are missing in our diets by not eating enough plant foods. Why are plant foods so protective and essential for human health?

Let's compare the nutrient density of meat to the nutrient density of green vegetables to illustrate this important point.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (9)
• Share Link

The next issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology will include research comparing 25 members of the Calorie Restriction Society (aged 41 to 64)--who consume 1,400 to 2,000 nutrient-rich calories per day--with the same number of people who eat a typical Western diet of 2,000 to 3,000 calories per day.

They found that those on the restricted diet had significantly healthier hearts. Jim Salter describes it this way in an Associated Press article about the study:

"This is the first study to demonstrate that long-term calorie restriction with optimal nutrition has cardiac-specific effects that (delay or reverse) age-associated declines in heart function," said Luigi Fontana, lead author and assistant professor of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis.

The study will be published Tuesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Fontana said simply consuming less food is not the answer. Members of the study group eat food resembling a traditional Mediterranean diet, focusing on vegetables, olive oil, beans, whole grains, fish and fruit. They avoid refined and processed foods, soft drinks, desserts, white bread and other sources of "empty" calories.

For the general public, the researchers recommend a moderate reduction in calories, combined with moderate, regular exercise.

Research on mice and rats indicated that life span can be stretched by about 30 percent with stringent and consistent caloric restriction. That research also suggested that restricting calories can help prevent cancer.

Heart attacks and strokes cause about 40 percent of deaths in Western countries, researchers said. Cancer causes another 30 percent. Fontana said those deaths are attributable to "secondary aging" from high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and other often-preventable conditions.

While it has long been known that a healthy diet and exercise can reduce risks, the study suggests that caloric restriction combined with optimal nutrition can do even more.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (3)
• Share Link

• The studies have been out for months, and Dr. Fuhrman has talking and writing about it for years, but today the Washington Post is catching up to the idea that body mass index is an inferior tool for predicting disease. Here are some better ways.
• The Chicago Tribune story (more about that here) about mercury in fish is making more waves: now the FDA says they will look into canned tuna.
• Dr. Fuhrman has discussed his aversion to harsh chemical household cleaners and pesticides. Organic Authority has some ideas about other things to use.
• Try to avoid sugar, you start being amazed at the many different ways people are constantly promoting it. Now, for instance, there's a dinosaur-era mammal named for the Cadbury company.
• Paul McCartney's wife, Heather Mills McCartney, is tremendously inspirational--and she loves Eat to Live! On her website, there is a link to DrFuhrman.com.
• Something to shoot for: according to a study, plenty of people report that they are in excellent health well into their senior years.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Share Link