Treating Multiple Sclerosis with the Swank MS Diet
A plant-based diet may not only be the safest treatment for multiple sclerosis; it may also be the most effective.
A plant-based diet may not only be the safest treatment for multiple sclerosis; it may also be the most effective.
By age 10, nearly all kids have fatty streaks in their arteries. This is the first sign of atherosclerosis, the leading cause of death in the United States. So the question for most of us is not whether we should eat healthy to prevent heart disease, but whether we want to reverse the heart disease we may already have.
Men eating pistachio nuts experienced a significant improvement in blood flow through the penis accompanied by significantly firmer erections in just three weeks—perhaps due to pistachios’ antioxidant, arginine, and phytosterol content.
Because penile arteries are only about half the size of the coronary arteries in the heart, erectile dysfunction can be a powerful predictor of cardiac events—such as sudden death.
Those eating a more plant-based diet may naturally have an enhanced antioxidant defense system to counter the DNA damage caused by free radicals produced by high-intensity exercise.
Dr. Greger has scoured the world’s scholarly literature on clinical nutrition, and developed this brand-new live presentation on the latest in cutting-edge research on how a healthy diet can affect some of our most common medical conditions.
Egg industry claims about egg safety found to be patently false, misleading, and deceptive by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
Expanding on the subject of my upcoming appearance on The Dr. Oz Show, a landmark new article in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that choline in eggs, poultry, dairy, and fish produces the same toxic TMAO as carnitine in red meat—which may help explain plant-based protection from heart disease and prostate cancer.
Two theories about the buildup of subcutaneous fat, involving the chemical spermine and the hormone adiponectin, suggest a plant-based diet may help with cellulite.
The story behind the first U.S. dietary recommendations report explains why, to this day, the decades of science supporting a more plant-based diet have yet to fully translate into public policy.
A daily tablespoon of ground flax seeds for a month appears to improve fasting blood sugars, triglycerides, cholesterol, and hemoglobin A1c levels in diabetics.
Researchers set out to find out what it was about a flax seed-supplemented, lower-fat diet that so effectively appeared to decrease prostate cancer growth.
What happens when men with prostate cancer and prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) are placed on a relatively low-fat diet, supplemented with ground flax seeds?
Despite the caloric density of both nuts and dried fruit, they do not appear to lead to the expected weight gain.
A comparison of the cholesterol-lowering potential of four dried fruits—apples, dates, figs, and plums.
A similar exponential increase in carotid artery plaque buildup was found for smokers and egg eaters.
An independent review of the effects of açaí berries was recently published, including studies on immune function, arthritis, and metabolic parameters.
Sellers of coconut oil use a beef industry tactic to downplay the risks associated with the saturated fat in their products.
Plant-based diets may help protect against oral cancer and periodontal (gum) disease, a leading cause of tooth loss.
Plant-based diets may be effective for the treatment of fibromyalgia, a painful condition suffered by millions.
The consumption of three portions of whole grains a day appears as powerful as high blood pressure medications in alleviating hypertension.
Some foods appear protective against the development of skin wrinkles—while others may make them worse.
Why is the intake of animal protein associated with heart disease—even independent of saturated fat—and the intake of plant protein protective?
Lifestyle medicine pioneer Nathan Pritikin, who reversed his own heart disease through diet and went on to help millions of others, wasn’t a doctor or dietician, but an engineer.
The short-term effect of replacing refined olive oil with extra virgin olive oil, walnuts, or almonds on cardiovascular risk factors.
Within a matter of weeks, participants placed on the vegan diet outlined by the prophet Daniel experienced improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol and insulin levels, insulin resistance, and C-reactive protein levels, a marker of inflammation within the body.
The good bacteria in our gut can digest the fiber we eat, and turn it into an anti-obesity compound—called propionate—that we absorb back into our system.
Whole food sources of phytosterols, such as seeds and nuts, are likely superior to supplements, or phytosterol-fortified spreads and beverages.
Those eating plant-based diets get the most phytosterols, but there’s still room for improvement to maximize cholesterol reduction.
Phytosterols are plant-based cholesterol look-alikes in nuts and seeds that help maximize our body’s excretion of excess cholesterol.
Fiber bulks, speeds, and dilutes the intestinal waste stream to facilitate the removal of excess cholesterol from the body.
A pooled analysis of studies on nut consumption, cholesterol levels, and risk of death from heart disease show extraordinary benefits, suggesting we should eat nuts every day.
Though official recommendations are to first treat high cholesterol with dietary change, many physicians jump right to cholesterol-lowering medications, such as statins, that can have an array of adverse side effects.
A dramatic difference exists between the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of black walnuts versus English walnuts.
Death in America is largely a foodborne illness. Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals, Dr. Greger offers practical advice on how best to feed ourselves and our families to prevent, treat, and even reverse many of the top 15 killers in the United States.
The whole grain phytonutrient phytic acid (phytate) partially inhibits mineral absorption, but has a wide range of health-promoting properties, such as anticancer activity. By concurrently eating mineral absorption enhancers, such as garlic and onions, one can get the best of both worlds by improving the bioavailability of iron and zinc in plant foods.
A competing risks analysis of the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study compares the danger of smoking cigarettes to the danger of animal product consumption (cholesterol), and the benefits of plant foods (fiber) to the benefits of exercise.
Given how vascular our kidneys are, it should comes as no surprise that animal protein, animal fat, and cholesterol are associated with declining kidney function (microalbuminurea—loss of protein in the urine), which can be an early warning sign not only for kidney failure, but also for heart disease and a shortened lifespan.
By preventing the buildup of cholesterol in our bloodstream, we can prevent atherosclerosis in our coronary arteries—the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. This involves increasing our intake of fiber-containing plant foods, and decreasing our intake of trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol found in junk food and animal products.
Atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries may be more aptly described as pimples, initiated by the infiltration of cholesterol into the lining of our arteries. The ending—should blood flow to our heart muscle be cut off by a clot formed by the rupture of one of these inflamed pockets of pus in our arterial lining—is a heart attack.