Preventing Premature Death

In a recent article, Dr Michael Greger tells the story of what made him become a doctor.  His 65 year old grandmother had been sent home in her wheelchair to die.  She had been diagnosed with end-stage heart disease and the doctors had said there was nothing more they could do for her.  At just 65 years of age her life was ending.  However, his grandmother wasn't willing to give up so easily.

She saw a report on television about a man called Nathan Pritikin, an early lifestyle-medicine pioneer who had earned himself a reputation for reversing terminal heart disease.  What did she have to lose?  She booked herself in for a supervised plant-based diet and exercise program.  The story goes that they wheeled her in and she walked out on her own.

Dr Greger says he'll never forget that.  Within 3 weeks, his grandmother was walking 10 miles a day.  He was still a child, but he got to play with his grandmother again and it inspired him to study medicine.  In fact, his grandmother, who was given a death sentence at 65, got to see her grandson graduate and she later died at the ripe old age of 96.

Back then - and even now, the medical profession is suspicious of the power of food on health.  Even now, a lot of the medical profession uses drugs to slow the progression of disease, and surgery is used to bypass clogged arteries, but disease is almost always expected to gradually progress until the patient eventually dies - usually after years of ill health.

However, what we do know now is that once we stop eating a diet that promotes clogging of the arteries, our bodies can actually heal themselves.

It has been assumed for years that lots of the diseases that can kill us are pre-programed into our genes.  Diseases such as high blood pressure, heart attacks and even cancer.  However our genes actually only account for about 10-20% of risk.  The other 80-90% of risk is down to our lifestyle and our diets.  The typical Western diet is the number 1 cause of death and disability.

There are just 4 simple healthy lifestyle factors that have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic

diseases:

1. Not smoking
2. Not being obese
3. At least half an hour of exercise everyday
4. Healthy eating (Consuming more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less meat)

If you can acquire these 4 healthy habits then you may be able to eliminate more than 90% of your risk of developing diabetes, more than 80% of your heart attack risk, reduce by 50% your risk of suffering a stroke, and reduce your overall risk of cancer by more than a third.

A lot of this is down to a tiny "thing" on the tip of each of your chromosomes called a telomere.  Each of your cells has 46 strands of DNA coiled into chromosomes.  At the tip of each chromosome there is a tiny cap called a telomere - think of it like the plastic tip on the end of your shoelace.  Every time your cells divide, a tiny bit of telomere disappears, and once the telomere has completely gone then your cells can die.

Telomeres can start shortening as soon as you are born, but when they are gone, then you are gone too.  The good news is that what you eat can protect your telomeres.

Diets rich in fruits, vegetables and other antioxidant rich foods have been associated with longer, protective telomeres.  On the other hand, diets high in refined grains, fizzy drinks, meat, fish and dairy have been linked to shortened telomeres.

However, there is more.  In the White Mountains of California, a type of tree called the bristlecone pine has been growing for almost 4,800 years.  In the pines' roots an enzyme can be found that seems to peak a few thousand years into their life span which actually rebuilds telomeres.  It has been aptly named telomerase by scientists.  The great thing about this discovery is that once the scientists knew what to look for, they found telomerase in human cells too.

Dr Elizabeth Blackburn, Nobel Prize in Medicine winner in 2009 for her discovery of telomerase and Dr Dean Ornish teamed up to see how they could activate telomerase in humans.

The duo found that after just three months on a plant-based diet, together with exercise, significantly boosted telomerase activity.  They also did a 5 year follow-up study which found that the telomeres of the control group who had not changed their lifestyles had predictably shrunk with age while the group that had changed their lifestyles showed that their telomeres had GROWN.

Not only had they not shrunk or stayed the same, they had actually grown, suggesting that a healthy lifestyle can boost telomerase enzyme activity which can reverse cellular aging.

Yet again, here is proof that a plant-based diet is the healthiest way of eating.

I can help you improve your health.  If you would like to make an appointment with me either in person or via Skype, just send me an email to lucycarr@socialnutrition.com