Medical Malpractice

As a cardiac surgeon, along with other prominent physicians labeled "opinion makers," we insisted heart disease resulted from the simple fact of elevated blood cholesterol.

The only accepted therapy was prescribing medications to lower cholesterol and a diet that severely restricted fat intake. The latter, of course, we physicians insisted would lower cholesterol and heart disease.

Deviations from these recommendations were considered heresy and could quite possibly result in malpractice. Despite the fact that 25% of the population takes expensive statin medications and despite the fact we have reduced the fat content of our diets, more Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.

Let Me Say Emphatically, It Is Not Working!

Statistics from the American Heart Association show that 75 million Americans currently suffer from heart disease, 20 million have diabetes and 57 million have pre-diabetes. These disorders are affecting younger and younger people in greater numbers every year.

The cholesterol theory led to no-fat, low-fat dietary recommendations that in turn created the very foods now causing an epidemic of inflammation. These recommendations are no longer scientifically or morally defensible.

The epidemics of obesity, heart disease and diabetes, consequences of which dwarf any historical plague in terms of mortality, human suffering and economic consequences, are the result of those dietary recommendations.

We followed the recommended mainstream diet not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. We now know this repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to those diseases.

Simply stated, without inflammation being present in the body, cholesterol would not become trapped in the artery wall; instead, it would move freely throughout as nature intended.

Inflammation

Inflammation is simply your body's natural defense to a foreign invader such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. The cycle of inflammation is perfect in how it protects your body from bacterial and viral invaders. However, if we chronically expose the body to injury by toxins or foods the human body was never designed to process, a condition results called chronic inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is just as harmful as acute inflammation is beneficial. The biggest culprits of inflammation are overloads of simple, highly processed carbohydrates (sugar, flour and all the products made from them) and the excess consumption of Omega-6 vegetable oils like soybean, corn and sunflower that are found in many processed foods.

Sugar And Simple Carbohydrates

When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin whose primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works. When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.

Omega-6 Oils

Processed foods are manufactured with Omega-6 oils for longer shelf life; chips and fries are soaked in soybean oil. While Omega-6's are essential being part of every cell membrane controlling what goes in and out of the cell - they must be in correct balance with Omega-3's. When the balance shifts to excessive Omega-6, the cell membrane produces chemicals called cytokines that directly cause inflammation.

Today's main stream diet has produced an imbalance ratio from 15:1 to as high as 30:1 in favor of Omega-6. That's a tremendous amount of cytokines causing inflammation. In today's food environment, a 3:1 ratio would be optimal and healthy.

Animal Fat

Animal fats contain less than 20% Omega-6 and are much less likely to cause inflammation than the supposedly healthy oils labeled polyunsaturated. The science that saturated fat alone causes heart disease is non-existent.

The science that saturated fat raises blood cholesterol is also very weak. Since we now know that cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, the concern about saturated fat is even more absurd today.

Fat Cells -- Pro-Inflammatory Chemicals

Excess weight creates overloaded fat cells that emit large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to the injury caused by having high blood sugar. In time this vicious cycle creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer's disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.

I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. Arterial inflammation looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

How To Quiet Inflammation

To quiet inflammation, return to foods closer to their natural state. To build muscle, eat more protein. Choose carbohydrates that are very complex such as colorful fruits and vegetables. Cut down on or eliminate inflammation-causing Omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil and processed foods made from them. One tablespoon of corn oil contains 7,280 mg of Omega-6; soybean contains 6,940 mg. Instead, use olive oil or butter from grass-fed beef.

Choose whole foods your grandmother served and not those your mom turned to as grocery store aisles filled with manufactured foods. By eliminating inflammatory foods and adding essential nutrients, you will reverse years of damage in your arteries and throughout your body from consuming the typical American diet.