All Videos for Heart Disease

Protein and Heart Disease

Why is the intake of animal protein associated with heart disease—even independent of saturated fat—and the intake of plant protein protective?



The Best Baby Formula

Exclusive breastfeeding for a full six months may, ironically, improve our children’s taste for vegetables—whereas children fed formula grow up with increased rates of inflammatory diseases such as asthma, cancer, and diabetes.



BPA Plastic and Male Sexual Dysfunction

Canned foods and sliced turkey were found to be contaminated with the plastics chemical BPA, which has been linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and erectile dysfunction.



Cancer-Proofing Mutation

Congenital IGF-1 deficiency can lead to Laron Syndrome (a type of dwarfism); but with such low growth hormone levels, those with the condition have dramatically lower cancer rates. This raises the question of whether one can achieve the best of both worlds—by ensuring adequate IGF-1 levels during childhood, while then suppressing excess growth promotion in adulthood.



Prostate vs. Plants

All men should consider eating a prostate-healthy diet, which includes legumes (beans, peas, lentils, soy); certain vegetables (like garlic and onions); certain seeds (flax seeds); and the avoidance of refined grains, eggs, and poultry.



Some Prostates Are Larger Than Others

Benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH—an enlarged prostate gland—affects 80% of older men, but like many other Western chronic diseases, it appears to be a consequence of our diet.



Engineering a Cure

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.



Slimming the Gecko

A workplace dietary intervention study at GEICO corporate headquarters demonstrates the power of plant-based eating.



Extra Virgin Olive Oil vs. Nuts

The short-term effect of replacing refined olive oil with extra virgin olive oil, walnuts, or almonds on cardiovascular risk factors.



Biblical Daniel Fast Put to the Test

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.



Waist Circumference Less than Half Your Height

Waist-to-height ratio may be a better predictor of disease than body mass index.



Optimal Phytosterol Source

Whole food sources of phytosterols, such as seeds and nuts, are likely superior to supplements, or phytosterol-fortified spreads and beverages.



Optimal Phytosterol Dose

Those eating plant-based diets get the most phytosterols, but there’s still room for improvement to maximize cholesterol reduction.



How Fiber Lowers Cholesterol

Fiber bulks, speeds, and dilutes the intestinal waste stream to facilitate the removal of excess cholesterol from the body.



Nuts and Bolts of Cholesterol Lowering

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.



Diet Versus Drugs for High Cholesterol

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.



Black vs. English Walnuts

A dramatic difference exists between the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of black walnuts versus English walnuts.



Mineral of the Year—Magnesium

Despite promising autopsy and population data suggesting that inadequate magnesium intake is a risk factor for sudden cardiac death, it wasn’t until recently that this was demonstrated in prospective studies.



How Do Nuts Prevent Sudden Cardiac Death?

Most men and women who die of heart disease, our #1 killer, die suddenly without any known history of heart problems. Nut consumption, however, has been associated specifically with decreased risk of sudden cardiac death, which may be due to magnesium, a mineral found predominantly in whole grains, greens, beans, nuts, and seeds.



Risk Associated with Iron Supplements

Iron is a double-edged sword. If we don’t absorb enough, we risk anemia; but if absorb too much, we may increase our risk of cancer, heart disease, and a number of inflammatory conditions. Because the human body has no mechanism to rid itself of excess iron, one should choose plant-based (non-heme) sources, over which our body has some control.



Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death

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.



What Women Should Eat to Live Longer

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.



Preventing Kidney Failure Through Diet

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.



Dead Meat Bacteria Endotoxemia

The high bacteria load in raw or cooked animal foods and fermented foods may trigger an endotoxemic surge of inflammation, which may be exacerbated by the presence of saturated animal fat.



The Leaky Gut Theory of Why Animal Products Cause Inflammation

A single meal of meats, eggs, and dairy can cause a spike of inflammation within hours that can stiffen one’s arteries. Originally, this was thought to be the result of saturated animal fat causing our gut lining to leak bacterial toxins into our bloodstream, leading to endotoxemia.



Fighting Inflammation in a Nut Shell

The equivalent of eating a single walnut half per day appeared to cut the risk of dying from inflammatory disease about in half, whereas fish did not appear to play a protective role. That may be why those eating vegetarian foods have lower levels of inflammation and chronic disease risk.



Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Purple Potatoes

Antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties of white compared to yellow and purple potatoes. Purple potatoes may also help lower high blood pressure.



Chamomile Tea May Not Be Safe During Pregnancy

For the same reason aspirin should be avoided in pregnancy, chamomile has such powerful anti-inflammatory properties that regular consumption may result in a serious fetal heart problem—premature constriction of the fetal ductus arteriosus, which allows the fetus to “breathe” in the womb.



Making Our Arteries Less Sticky

Mushrooms appear to have an anti-inflammatory effect on human arterial lining cells in vitro, which may help stop the inflammatory cascade, thought to be integral to the progression of atherosclerotic (artery-clogging) heart disease. The effects of shitake, crimini, oyster, maitake, and plain white button mushrooms are compared.



Blocking the First Step of Heart Disease

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.



Arterial Acne

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.



Red Fish, White Fish; Dark Fish, Atrial Fibrillation

The consumption of dark fish (such as salmon, swordfish, bluefish, mackerel, and sardines) may increase our risk of atrial fibrillation—an irregular heartbeat rhythm associated with stroke, dementia, heart failure, and a shortened lifespan.



Raw Veggies vs. Cooked for Heart Disease

Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with a lower risk of heart disease. But which is more protective—raw or cooked?



The Safer Cinnamon

There are four common types of cinnamon: Vietnamese, Chinese (cassia), Indonesian, and Ceylon (true) cinnamon. Which is safest in terms of the level of coumarin, which may damage the liver at toxic doses?



Poultry Exposure and Neurological Disease

Poultry workers exhibit an excess of a wide range of diseases, from thyroid conditions to schizophrenia, and autoimmune neurological disorders, such as myasthenia gravis. This may be due to exposure to viruses present in chickens and turkeys.



Harvard’s Meat & Mortality Studies

Monday, March 12, 2012: The Harvard Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study concluded that red meat consumption was associated with living a significantly shorter life—increased cancer mortality, increased heart disease mortality, and increased overall mortality.



Smoking vs. Kale Juice

The effect of kale juice on LDL and HDL cholesterol, and the antioxidant capacity of the blood.



Vegetables Rate by Nitrate

If nitrates can boost athletic performance and protect against heart disease, which vegetables have the most—beans, bulb vegetables (like garlic and onions), fruiting vegetables (like eggplant and squash), greens (such as arugula), mushrooms, root vegetables (such as carrots and beets), or stem vegetables (such as celery and rhubarb)?



Soy Worth a Hill of Beans?

Are soybeans better than other types of beans for heart disease prevention—or does the soy industry just have more money and clout to tout?



Plant-Based Atkins Diet

Harvard study found that men and women eating low carb diets live significantly shorter lives, but what about the “eco-Atkins diet,” a plant-based, low carbohydrate diet?