How Not to Die: An Animated Summary
We have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity.
We have tremendous power over our health destiny and longevity.
Despite less education on average, a higher poverty rate, and more limited access to health care, U.S. Hispanics tend to live the longest. Why?
Might the nicotine content in nightshade vegetables, such as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, and bell peppers, protect against Parkinson’s disease?
Vegetables such as beets and arugula can improve athletic performance by improving oxygen delivery and utilization. But, what about for those who really need it—such as those with emphysema, high blood pressure, and peripheral artery disease?
For the same reason that anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen are advised against during late pregnancy, anti-inflammatory foods may increase the risk of premature closure of the ductus arteriosus.
Based on the potential benefits of proper hydration such as reduced bladder cancer risk, how many cups of water should we strive to drink every day?
Study finds remarkable improvements in exercise performance drinking homemade peppermint water, but there may be side effects.
A study of 13 over-the-counter children’s fish oil supplements found that all were contaminated with PCB pollutants.
Evidence-based medicine may ironically bias medical professionals against the power of dietary intervention.
Pilot studies on treating allergic eczema and severe asthma with dietary interventions have shown remarkable results.
Whole fruits and vegetables were compared to both antioxidant pills, as well as supplements containing fruits and vegetable extracts, for their ability to treat seasonal allergies, improve lung function, and control asthma.
Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption to seven servings a day appears to cut asthma exacerbation rates in half, whereas restricting consumption to Standard American Diet levels leads to a significant worsening of lung function and asthma control.
A study involving more than a million kids suggests the striking worldwide variation in childhood rates of allergies, asthma, and eczema is related to diet.
Just a few small servings of nuts a week may increase our lifespan and lower cancer risk.
The spice turmeric appears to be able to switch back on the self-destruct mechanism within cancer cells.
Dramatically lower cancer rates in India may in part be attributable to their more plant-based, spice-rich diet.
Foods of animal origin (especially fish) appear to be the most important source of human exposure to industrial pollutants such as alkylphenol xenoestrogens.
Methionine restriction—best achieved through a plant-based diet—may prove to have a major impact on patients with cancer because, unlike normal tissues, many human tumors require the amino acid methionine to grow.
Cancer-causing viruses in poultry may explain increased risks of death from liver and pancreatic cancers.
The artificial butter flavoring diacetyl has been linked not only to deaths of workers handling the chemical, but also to serious lung disease in consumers of microwave popcorn.
Natural monoamine oxidase enzyme inhibitors in fruits and vegetables may help explain the improvement in mood associated with switching to a plant-based diet.
An independent review of the effects of açaí berries was recently published, including studies on immune function, arthritis, and metabolic parameters.
Sharing one’s home with a cat or dog may decrease the risk of infectious diseases in children—including ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and gastroenteritis.
The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the vapors released from cooking meat may be hazardous for fetal development, and increase the risk of cancer.
Those who eat meat risk food poisoning from undercooked meat, but also exposure to cooked meat carcinogens in well-cooked meat. By boiling meat, non-vegetarians can mediate their risk of both.
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.
Inadequate fruit and vegetable intake may help explain the loss of immune function associated with aging that is linked to an increased risk of dying from pneumonia and influenza.
Dietary interventions, including increasing fruit and vegetable intake and decreasing meat intake, may not only help slow the progression of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, but may actually improve lung function.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is now the third leading cause of death. The good news is that. in addition to smoking cessation, there are dietary interventions that can help prevent COPD.
The anti-proliferative effects of cruciferous vegetable phytonutrients may decrease the metastatic potential of lung cancer, the number one cancer killer of women.
Frying bacon outdoors decreases the concentration of airborne nitrosamine carcinogens.
The nitrite preservatives in processed meats such as bologna, bacon, ham, and hot dogs form carcinogenic nitrosamines, but also reduce the growth of botulism bacteria—forcing regulators to strike a balance between consumers risking cancer, or a deadly form of food poisoning.
Beeturia, the passage of pink urine after beetroot consumption, is a reminder that phytonutrients circulate throughout our bloodstream—explaining the connection between “garlic breath,” and the use of garlic as an adjunct treatment for pneumonia.
Beets found to significantly improve athletic performance while reducing oxygen needs—upsetting a fundamental tenet of sports physiology.
Indian gooseberries (amla), an important plant in Ayurvedic medicine, may have anticancer properties, as well as cough-, fever-, pain-, stress-, and diarrhea-suppressing effects.
Arachidonic acid may play a role in cancer, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and other autoimmune disorders.
Breast cancer can take decades to develop, so early detection via mammogram may be too late.
Erectile dysfunction may be an early warning sign for heart disease.
Do dairy products contribute to increased mucus (phlegm) production?