Former president of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, talks with best-selling author Kathy Freston about cutting meat to limit heart disease.
KF: What exactly is coronary heart disease?
CE: Coronary heart disease is the leading killer of women and men in Western civilization. It is predicted to become the #1 global disease burden by 2020.
It consists of an inflammatory buildup of blockages in arteries to the heart muscle. These blockages are made of fat, cholesterol, calcium and inflammatory cells. When blockages suddenly become complete, the portion of heart muscle fed by that blocked artery is deprived of oxygen and nutrients, thus it is injured or dies.
KF: What is the cause of the disease?
CE: The Western diet of processed oils, dairy and meat destroys the lifejacket of our blood vessels known as our endothelial cells. This cell layer is a one cell thick lining of all of our blood vessels. Endothelial cells manufacture a magical protective molecule of gas called nitric oxide, which protects our blood vessels. It keeps our blood flowing smoothly. It is the strongest dilator (widener) of our blood vessels, it inhibits the formation of blockages (plaques) and it inhibits inflammation.
KF: With such natural protection, why do we ever develop heart disease?
CE: As individuals consume theses damaging products throughout their lives, they have fewer functioning endothelial cells remaining and thus less of the protective nitric oxide. Without enough nitric oxide, the plaque blockages build up and grow, creating eventual heart disease and strokes.
KF: Can it be stopped or even reversed?
CE: Yes. First we must look at the lessons learned from cultures where there is a virtual absence of coronary artery heart disease, such as rural China, the Papua Highlands of New Guinea, Central Africa, and the Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico. Their nutrition is plant based without oil.
Beginning in 1985, I initiated a study of seriously ill coronary artery disease patients. Their nutrition became plant based without oil. Their cholesterol levels plummeted. Their angina disappeared. Their weight dropped. I have reported this study at 5 years, 12 years, and 16 years, in the peer reviewed scientific literature and again beyond 20 years in my book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. In some of the patients we had follow up angiograms (x-rays) of previously blocked arteries demonstrating striking disease reversal, a testament to my often quoted statement, “The truth be known coronary artery disease is a toothless paper tiger that need never exist and if it does exist it need never progress.”
KF: Why aren’t physicians using nutrition therapy?
CE: Most physicians have no training or understanding of the power of nutrition. In a busy practice, they would not have the time for it. It is my belief that physicians must accord the plant-based lifestyle transition its due. Every patient with cardiovascular disease should be referred to a physician or nurse practitioner with the knowledge and expertise in these counseling skills.
KF: But I understand physicians don’t believe patients will make this transition?
CE: Of all the encounters a patient with cardiovascular disease experiences, perhaps the least time and lowest priority is nutritional counseling. I see many patients with heart disease who recount that nutrition was not even mentioned. It is therefore unlikely that the patient feels nutrition is important.
KF: What is it you do differently?
CE: In an intensive 5-hour counseling session for a group of heart patients, my first priority is to eliminate the mystery of what causes their disease. It has not been stress, or genes. It is their diet. Hypertension, diabetes and smoking must be controlled but food trumps all. I spend at least an hour defining the protective role of endothelial cells and nitric oxide functioning as the ultimate guardians of our blood vessels. They quickly understand their lifetime of ingesting these harmful products has totally overwhelmed their endothelium to an extent where it is unable to protect them. They fully grasp that they must forever eliminate ingesting foods that will further destroy their already compromised endothelium. They understand heart disease is a food borne illness.
