Making Heart Attacks History: Caldwell Esselstyn at TEDxCambridge 2011
Making Heart Attacks History: Caldwell Esselstyn at TEDxCambridge 2011
Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn argues that heart attacks, the leading cause of death for men and women worldwide, are a “food borne illness” and explains why diet is the most powerful medicine. Be sure to check out 11:39. Veggie freestyle!
Learn more about TEDxCambridge at http://www.tedxcambridge.com.
Content
0 -> Transcriber: Csaba Lehel
Reviewer: Ellen Maloney
14.839 -> Coronary artery disease
is the leading killer
17.966 -> of women and men in Western civilization.
22.456 -> Yet the truth be known, it is nothing more
24.606 -> than a toothless paper tiger
that need never exist.
27.378 -> And if it does exist,
it need never ever progress.
30.811 -> This is a food borne illness.
34.321 -> My story begins, actually,
in the late 1970s, early 80s,
38.732 -> when I was chairman of the breast cancer
task force at the Cleveland Clinic.
42.974 -> My frustration was that no matter
for how many women
46.423 -> I was doing breast surgery, I was doing
nothing for the next unsuspecting victim.
53.004 -> This led to a bit of global research.
56.368 -> It was quite striking to find
that breast cancer rates in Kenya
60.186 -> were something like 30 or 40 times
less frequent than in the United States.
64.907 -> And if you looked at breast cancer rates
in rural Japan in the 1950s,
70.01 -> it was very infrequently identified.
72.583 -> And yet as soon as the Japanese women
would migrate to the United States,
78.018 -> by the second and third generation.
79.807 -> they now had the same rate
of breast cancer
81.893 -> as their Caucasian counterparts.
84.293 -> But even more powerful perhaps
was data on cancer of the prostate.
89.502 -> In 1958, in the entire nation of Japan,
93.573 -> how many autopsy proven deaths
were there from cancer of the prostate?
97.874 -> 18.
99.32 -> That's the most mind-boggling public
health figure I think I've ever heard.
103.501 -> But I made a decision then,
105.038 -> that I was concerned
that my bones would long be dust
107.658 -> before I could really get answers
between nutrition and cancer.
112.235 -> And so I chose to deal
with cardiovascular disease,
116.768 -> which is the leading killer of women
and men in Western civilization.
120.611 -> And it was quite striking
that in this global review
123.93 -> there were a number of cultures,
by heritage and tradition,
128.991 -> that simply lack
any cardiovascular disease.
134.971 -> They were plant-based.
136.932 -> And so with that information
I came back to Cleveland.
142.309 -> And my wife and I decided to go
on this plant-based diet for a year.
148.644 -> And then I asked cardiology
if I could have
151.113 -> about 24 patients, which is the number
153.482 -> that I can handle and still carry out
my surgical obligations.
158.188 -> And the 24 patients that I received,
161.455 -> were, as my late brother-in-law
used to say, the walking dead.
165.754 -> But they were most cooperative
168.085 -> and it was within about, say,
15 months of starting this program
174.761 -> that we had something striking develop.
176.864 -> I was treating a 52-year-old gentleman
who, in addition to his heart disease,
184.372 -> had a partially blocked artery
in his right thigh.
188.885 -> And he told me about the fact
191.657 -> that when he was crossing the skyway
to my office, he had to stop five times
196.92 -> because of pain in this calf,
because of this blocked artery.
200.024 -> So I had him go to the vascular lab
and we got his pulse volume.
204.107 -> And then I forgot all about his leg,
so focused on his heart.
207.293 -> Eight months later, he said,
"Dr. Esselstyn do you recall
209.961 -> when I first started seeing you,
211.601 -> I had to stop five times crossing
the skyway here to your office?
216.275 -> This last month, it got to be four times,
then it was three, two, one,".
221.305 -> He said, "I don't stop anymore,
the pain is gone".
225.82 -> "Don, back you go to the vascular lab."
228.92 -> I think if you look here, you can see
the difference in pulse volume
232.328 -> when I first saw him,
and here we were eight months later,
236.866 -> it was now almost two times greater.
239.555 -> So the thing that was
so exciting about this was,
243.199 -> in science we had demonstrated
what we call "proof of concept."
248.695 -> Not only that, but this occurred one year
before the invention of the statin drugs.
255.546 -> So this was so powerful, because
it showed us that indeed with nutrition,
259.353 -> we can actually not only halt
this disease, but we could reverse it.
263.213 -> And not shortly thereafter, what occurred,
we saw this now in the heart.
268.809 -> This is a 54-year-oold security guard
where our angiography core laboratory
273.731 -> described this as a 30% improvement.
277.399 -> But what really got our attention
was a fellow surgeon at the clinic
282.96 -> who, at age 44 in 1996,
began to get chest pain.
288.928 -> He did not have hypertension,
he did not have diabetes,
291.548 -> he did not have a strong family history,
he was not overweight
295.058 -> and cardiology worked him up
in October of 1996, could find nothing.
301.178 -> Three weeks later, he was finishing
his surgical schedule.
306.296 -> Sat down to write
post-operative orders.
308.608 -> Splitting headache, immediately followed
by this crushing elephant in his chest,
314.825 -> pain in his shoulder down his arm.
316.499 -> Joe was having a heart attack.
318.241 -> Whipped down to the cath lab,
start the catheterization, cardiac arrest,
322.508 -> resuscitate, and finish
the catheterization.
327.284 -> And then he was sent up to the floors
329.429 -> and discharged three days later,
but very depressed.
332.609 -> Why?
333.388 -> Because what they identified was that
336.532 -> his left anterior descending coronary
artery, in the front of the heart,
340.796 -> the entire lower third
was moth-eaten and diseased,
344.241 -> over too long a segment to have stents,
too far down the artery to have a bypass.
350.613 -> So he was very depressed about this,
352.535 -> so my wife Anne and I had him out
to the house with his wife for supper,
356.444 -> two weeks after his heart attack.
359.543 -> "Joe you've been eating
this typical Western diet.
363.564 -> You've got the typical Western disease.
366.066 -> We've got 10 years of data,
how about going plant-based?"
369.965 -> "Okay Ess, I'll give it a shot,
they couldn't offer me anything else."
375.158 -> He became the absolute personification
of commitment to plant-based nutrition.
382.233 -> And over the next thirty months
he then had another angiogram.
389.278 -> You know, up in the surgical suites,
our offices are three doors apart.
394.452 -> And at noontime of the day
that I knew earlier that morning
400.305 -> he had his follow-up angiogram,
402.731 -> I found myself letting myself
into his office.
405.692 -> There he was sitting behind his desk,
408.85 -> "Joe, I understand you had the follow-up
angiogram this morning,
413.17 -> Mind sharing with me, how did it go?"
415.294 -> Got up from around his desk, put his arms
around me, "I think we're doing okay."
421.514 -> "Well, any chance I could see
the follow-up angiogram?"
425.8 -> "Yeah!"
427.22 -> It was really quite striking and exciting
to see what actually can happen;
434.168 -> when you give the body
every opportunity it can.
437.341 -> The healing capacity is incredible.
440.043 -> So now let's talk a little bit
about how do you injure the artery
444.125 -> in the first place,
what seems to be going wrong.
447.873 -> Now on the right, there is
a seriously diseased artery.
451.483 -> You're probably saying,
"That's going to have a heart attack."
454.399 -> No, that only causes
about 10% of heart attacks,
456.676 -> but it certainly will cause chest pain
and shortness of breath.
460.411 -> What I really want you
to notice is on the left,
462.832 -> and here, on the inside of this artery,
465.721 -> there's a very, very, tiny, little dark
single layer of cell "magic carpet",
472.888 -> that all experts would agree is where
the inception of this disease occurs.
477.12 -> This magic carpet is called
the endothelium.
479.922 -> And the endothelium has an absolutely
magic molecule that it produces.
484.825 -> It's a gas, nitric oxide.
487.95 -> Nitric oxide has a number
of wonderful functions.
490.9 -> Nitric oxide keeps
our blood flowing smoothly
493.878 -> like Teflon, rather than velcro.
495.91 -> Two, nitric oxide is the strongest
vasodilator in the body.
500.114 -> When you climb stairs,
the arteries to your heart dilate,
504.347 -> the arteries to your legs dilate.
507.098 -> Nitric oxide inhibits inflammation
from the wall of the artery,
510.879 -> protect you from getting hypertension,
and most importantly
515.298 -> nitric oxide, in plentiful amounts,
518.238 -> will protect you from ever
developing blockages or plaque.
523.908 -> Alright, how do those
90% of heart attacks occur?
529.034 -> You will see here the artery is divided.
531.75 -> And what you're looking at
in the first serial on the left,
536.206 -> is that when you start
eating that cheeseburger,
538.975 -> the pizza, the milkshake,
your blood flow gets sticky.
542.438 -> And certain elements
like your endothelial cells get sticky,
545.567 -> your LDL cholesterol gets sticky,
and then the LDL bad cholesterol
549.578 -> migrates into the sub endothelial space,
553.703 -> where it sets up this absolute
cauldron of inflammation.
558.399 -> And that cauldron of inflammation
begins making inflammatory enzymes
564.15 -> that gradually begin to thin out
this delicate cap over the plaque.
570.16 -> It gets thinner and thinner
until it's as thin as a cobweb,
573.22 -> and then the sheer force of blood going
over that thinned out plaque ruptures,
579.649 -> and now we have spillage
of plaque content into the flowing blood,
583.588 -> which activates our platelets,
our clotting factor.
588.475 -> Now we are at the beginning
of a clot, a thrombosis,
592.741 -> which is in and of itself,
self-propagating.
596.377 -> So in a matter of minutes, now we have
an artery that is totally blocked,
600.463 -> and all the downstream heart muscle
has been deprived of oxygen and nutrients
606.097 -> and starts to die.
607.567 -> That's the heart attack.
610.089 -> But there is something absolutely
magically exciting about this series,
614.674 -> because if I can convince you
that all you have to do
619.812 -> is change your nutrition,
622.727 -> so your internal biochemistry is such
625.377 -> that you will not injure or thin out
the cap over your plaque,
630.099 -> you will actually diminish your plaque,
633.086 -> and you will strengthen
the cap over the plaque.
637.097 -> Alright, how do we do this?
641.306 -> It's very easy, we avoid the foods
that injure the endothelium.
646.567 -> What are they?
648.095 -> Even pure virgin olive oil,
corn oil, soybean oil,
652.352 -> safflower oil, sunflower oil,
coconut oil, palm oil, dairy.
657.819 -> Anything with a mother
or a face, meat, fish.
660.845 -> (Laughter)
665.992 -> Meat, fish, chicken, and turkey,
and also caffeine in coffee, and fructose.
674.71 -> Alright what are you going to eat?
676.574 -> (Laughter)
682.429 -> All those marvellous whole grains
for your cereal, bread and pasta.
685.852 -> 101 different types
of legumes, vegetables,
689.086 -> which are red, yellow,
and green leafy, and fruit.
692.68 -> But especially the green leafy vegetables
are like water on the fire.
697.232 -> What green leafy vegetables?
699.241 -> Bok choy, swiss chard, kale, collards,
collard greens, pink greens,
702.423 -> mustard greens, brussels sprouts,
broccoli, cauliflower, cilantro,
706.952 -> parsley, spinach, and arugula
and I'm out of breath.
710.042 -> (Applause)
715.901 -> But remember, no oil!
718.18 -> (Laughter)
725.586 -> Now conventional cardiology,
727.302 -> with all those procedures
and all that expense,
729.866 -> is high mortality, high morbidity,
and sadly it does not cure the disease,
733.953 -> and the expense is unsustainable.
736.333 -> However, when you're treating causality
with plant-based nutrition,
739.618 -> no mortality with the diet,
no morbidity with the diet.
743.42 -> And what happens with the passage of time,
the benefits just continue to improve.
748.431 -> And lastly nobody has greater fear
of another heart attack
752.331 -> than somebody who's already
had a heart attack.
754.805 -> And how empowering it can be
for them and their family to know
758.25 -> that they themselves can now become
760.795 -> the locust of control
for this disease, destroying it.
764.424 -> Whereas in the past,
it had been trying to destroy them.
768.116 -> And that, lastly,
I want to just share with you,
770.368 -> this isn't just
that original earlier study.
772.981 -> But what we're about to publish
another 200 patients.
776.712 -> And the reason we have
91% compliance
779.643 -> is because we have a very strong intense
single five hour counselling seminar.
787.924 -> That's the same amount of time
the cardiac surgeon has,
790.914 -> but I have the patient when they're awake.
793.663 -> (Laughter)
795.617 -> So how do we do?
798.088 -> If we look at the vertical axis,
799.958 -> what you're seeing here is the average
of about three independent
803.478 -> cohorts cardiology studies
that are quite well known.
806.649 -> And the recurrent cardiac events,
after four years,
809.387 -> run about 20% on average.
812.147 -> Our own, which is called
"Treating The Cause,"
814.628 -> is a half of one %, that means
roughly a 40 fold difference.
819.902 -> So in summary,
it is so exciting what happens
825.748 -> when you treat the causation of disease.
829.032 -> Because it is not only prompt,
832.032 -> it is powerful, and it is persistent.
836.223 -> And for those who, in the future,
838.076 -> are coming down
with cardiovascular disease,
841.252 -> I hope it is going to be unconscionable
not to inform them
846.152 -> of the power of this option
from which they can thrive.
852.358 -> Thank you.
853.521 -> (Applause)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqKNfyUPzoU