The number one cause of death in the United States is Heart disease with 635,260 deaths in 2016. [1] Cardiovascular diseases are also the leading causes of death worldwide with about 17.9 million people who died in 2016. [2] This is about the equivalent of over five jumbo jets crashing every single hour, every single day, every single year. [3]

According to the Mayo Clinic, “The term ‘heart disease’ is often used interchangeably with the term ‘cardiovascular disease.’ Cardiovascular disease generally refers to conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke. Other heart conditions, such as those that affect your heart's muscle, valves or rhythm, also are considered forms of heart disease. Many forms of heart disease can be prevented or treated with healthy lifestyle choices.” [4]

This image shows the progression of atherosclerosis or plaque buildup over the course of a lifetime. [6]

Most children in the United States who are following a Standard American Diet, have fatty streaks in their arteries, which is the first sign of the disease, by the age of 10. [5] Then during the 20s and 30s plaque buildup, known as atherosclerosis, has already occurred. [6] [7] Later in life, heart disease comes back to kill people off. So, for most people, the question is not how to prevent heart disease, but how to reverse heart disease that likely already exists.

A peer-reviewed journal article published in the Journal of Family Practice aimed to determine if eating a plant-based diet stopped and even reversed heart disease. The researchers found that as soon as patients stopped eating artery-clogging diets, their bodies began dissolving some of the existing plaque away, which opened up arteries without drugs and surgery—simply as a result of eating whole food plant-based (WFPB). [8]

The paper even showed a significant increase in blood flow to the heart muscle after following just 3 weeks of a WFPB diet. In fact, normal blood flow was restored.

High cholesterol is often one of the main risk factors for heart disease. To lower cholesterol through diet, three things must be avoided: trans fats, saturated fats, and dietary cholesterol. Trans fats are mostly found in junk food and animal products. The top food sources of trans fat include cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, bread, animal products like chicken, cheese, milk, yogurt, turkey, and hot dogs. [9]

The top food sources of saturated fat include cheese, desserts, pizza, chicken, sausage, bacon, milk, eggs, burgers, and chips. [9]. It is important to note that trans fat and saturated fat are commonly found in processed foods, many of animal origin.

Lastly, the top food sources of cholesterol are eggs, chicken, beef, cheese, sausage, bacon, ribs, fish, dairy, pizza, pork, and shrimp. [9] Only animal products contain dietary cholesterol. Foods from plants contain no cholesterol. So one of the best ways to avoid dietary cholesterol is to not eat anything that comes from animals including milk products, eggs or fish.

According to a peer-review journal article published in the journal Nutrition Reviews, “Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) set by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) are important, in part because they are used for estimating the percentage of the population at potential risk of adverse effects from excessive nutrient intake. The IOM did not set ULs for trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol because any intake level above 0% of energy increased LDL cholesterol concentration.” [10] LDL stands for low-density lipoprotein, i.e. the bad cholesterol.

It was shocking for me when I learned that children following a Standard American Diet already begin developing early signs of heart disease by the age of 10. However, it's uplifting to know that our #1 killer can be stopped and even reversed simply by following a whole food plant-based diet. The youth of America really need to wake up and take action now! And to do just that, I have started this website and blog.

Sources:

[1] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/leading-causes-of-death.htm

[2] https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-(cvds)

[3] Calculations: Average Amount of people in a jumbo jet: 400

400 x 5 (jumbo jets per hour) = 2,000

2,000 x 24 (hours in a day) = 48,000

48,000 x 365 (days in a year) = 17,520,000 people (slightly less than 17.9 million)

[4] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353118

[5] http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/jar/article/PIIS0368131969800207/abstract

[6] https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/72/5/1307s/4730131

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12244281

[8] https://www.mdedge.com/familymedicine/article/83345/cardiology/way-reverse-cad