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| Today's voice belongs to Guest Columnist Jim Rix |
First let’s be clear on just what “Heart Disease” is, because some people confuse it with its consequences (heart attack, stroke, etc.) and/or its risk factors (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.).
Heart Disease (aka hardening of the arteries, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease) is the buildup of fatty cholesterol substances known as plaques on the walls of the arteries. As these plaques grow larger, they constrict the flow of blood through the arteries causing, for example, high blood pressure. High blood pressure is not only a risk factor but is also a minor consequence of Heart Disease. I say minor because no one ever dies of high blood pressure in itself. Stress-induced high blood pressure, for example, is of no consequence if arteries are clean. It’s when arteries are clogged with cholesterol plaques that high blood pressure can cause these plaques to rupture and block the flow of blood that causes heart attacks and strokes, which all too often lead to death. Heart Disease is the number one killer, accounting for nearly 30% of all deaths.
To reiterate, Heart Disease is the buildup of fatty cholesterol plaques on the walls of the arteries—nothing more, nothing less.
It’s important to point out that many people have Heart Disease to some extent but will never suffer a heart attack or stroke. That’s where risk factors come into play. High cholesterol is recognized as the single best predictor of the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. For example, a cholesterol level of 210 is the average for people living in industrialized countries; this level predicts a 50% chance of premature death from strokes or heart attacks due to Heart Disease. A rise in cholesterol level from 200 to 260 increases the risk of death by 500%. People with levels below 180 during their lifetime rarely have heart disease; and finally, no one has ever died of heart disease whose cholesterol level was kept below 150.
So let’s focus on cholesterol to discover the cause of Heart Disease and ask the logical question: “What is the source of the cholesterol that clogs the arteries?”
In nature, cholesterol is manufactured in the cells of all animals with the liver responsible for about a quarter of cholesterol production. Cholesterol is an essential structural component of cell membranes and is required for proper membrane permeability and fluidity. So all animals, including humans, produce enough cholesterol to keep healthy. In humans this is indicated by a cholesterol level below 150. So what causes the cholesterol level to rise above 150? Does the liver, say, in some unfortunate people run amuck and uncontrollably produce excessive amounts of cholesterol, which eventually clogs their arteries? Well, there is no evidence for this. Has anyone ever heard a doctor tell him or her, “Your liver is producing more cholesterol than your body can handle thus causing your Heart Disease”? Never!
So, if the Heart Disease-causing extra cholesterol does not come from inside the body, it must come from outside the body. And since, in nature, cholesterol is only produced in and only resides in the cells of animals, it stands to reason that the source of excess cholesterol must come from the animal foods we humans consume: the meat of animals (the muscles of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish, etc.); the milk of mammals (milk is the only beverage that contains cholesterol) and its products (yogurt, cheese, etc.); and eggs. Furthermore, it’s important to note that no plant food contains cholesterol.
Therefore, I contend that the ultimate cause of Heart Disease is the ingestion of animal products.
Simply put: If you don’t put extra cholesterol into your body, it is impossible to build up cholesterol on the walls of your arteries.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “This makes sense, but it can’t be—my doctor says little if anything about it!” So let me pose a hypothetical, especially for those who doubt my conclusion: “Suppose I’m right—that eating animal products is the cause of Heart Disease—why might it be that most doctors don’t specifically say so?”
Final note: Don’t let my dietribe spoil your Thanksgiving. Humans can tolerate quite well small amounts of animal foods and/or occasional feasting. It’s the day-in, day-out bombardment of animal based meals (bacon and eggs for breakfast, tuna/cold cut sandwiches and cheese burgers for lunch, steaks/roasts/fish/chicken for dinner, and ice cream/cake for dessert) that, over time, clogs up your arteries.
Save feasts for festive occasions
and
Have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING.
_______________Copyright © 2012 by Jim Rix
This post looks at a very serious subject through the prism of vegetarian propaganda. "Doctor" Rix, by deliberate omission, doesn't tell us that if we're fat vegetarians — yes, there are such people — our cholesterol level will rise. Ditto if we're couch potatoes. Ditto as we age. Ditto if we have other ailments, like hypothyroidism. Ditto if we have a family history — there can be a genetic link! — of high cholesterol. Ditto if we smoke. Nice try, Doc.
ReplyDeleteFYI: Although I'm not a couch potato (I ski and exercise 3-4 time a week), I'm a fat (210lbs) 70 year old vegetarian whose farther died at the age of 50 of heart disease and my cholesterol level is 135. What's yours? More tomorrow on the genetic link hoax...Double nice try Ken.
ReplyDeletePS. Thanks for the "Doctor" complement...
I'm supposed to be convinced by how much you weigh, how long your father lived, and the numerous case histories of vegetarian smokers know to you? OK, I yield. Your anecdotal evidence is overwhelming!
DeleteFirst let me say that I do enjoy Ken's argumentative style. I particularly enjoyed his last contribution “Reviewing the Landscape” of which I thought was pretty much right on. He is a master debater when it comes to the areas of politics and religion - areas which are based upon opinion and faith respectively for which there is no right answer. But when it comes to scientific areas for which there is only one right answer, Ken’s debating skills really excel especially when he takes the wrong side. In this instance he throws up smoke screens like using the phrase “vegetarian propaganda” and then claims that important information has been “deliberately omitted”. However, while these “omissions” do have some element of truth he does not tell the whole story. For example, he claims that “cholesterol levels rise as we age” which is true if the “we” is expanded to “we carnivores”. Then when it is pointed out that “we aging vegetarians” do not have elevated cholesterol, he passes it off as “anecdotal”. Bravo Ken the smoke screen is thick and complete. Perhaps when the smoke clears Ken instead of skirting the real issue you’d like to comment on the thesis of my logical argument and tell the readers where you think the cholesterol that clogs your arteries comes from if not from animal products.
DeleteJim, I think your characterization of my style as "argumentative" is accurate in this case. It's a reaction to your message of "become a vegetarian or die young." You're using fear to promote an agenda. A responsible approach would be to point to well-respected studies, but your sales pitch is completely anecdotal. I'm happy if curious readers google "reasons for high cholesterol" and draw their own conclusions. I will not try again to knock you off your hobbyhorse.
DeleteOriginally posted Tuesday, November 20, 2012 1:18:00 AM; deleted inadvertently and restored
DeleteTwo more things.
1) Hypothyroidism is also a consequence of ingesting copious amounts of animal products - so if you have hypothyroidism then you are also likely to have heart disease.
2) While it is true that a carnivore increases his risk of dying of heart disease if he smokes, show me a vegetarian smoker who died of heart disease. You can't do it, because a smoker with clean arteries will like all us other vegetarians die of something other than heart disease. For instance, the smoking vegetarian of lung cancer, the non-smoking vegetarian of old age.
Ken, creative slant in your initial reply to "Doc" Rix. This is not a sign you will be taking time away from the wonderful photos you create to audition for a slot on FoxNews, is it?
ReplyDeleteJim, while I readily agree that having cholesterol or anything else blocking one's arteries seems a bad idea, how much of the panic over cholesterol in recent years is driven by objective factual research? And how much is motivated by modern medical practitioners seemingly incessant need to create new revenue streams?
The reason I ask is I come from Upstate New York farm family roots with traditionally high cholesterol (250 and above) on both sides of the family. So far the only family member who failed to far outlive his or her life expectancy was my father, who died from heart failure at age 73. He was also the only one who, on doctors' recommendations, took medication and made lifestyle changes to lower his cholesterol.
Everyone else ignored the advice of doctors and lived far beyond their expected years. My grandmother lived to be three weeks short of 100, and I don't think her cholesterol was ever below 300. If cholesterol is really the threat modern medicine claims it to be, why would members of my family - and many others in Upstate - live so long with such high cholesterol? Is it possible cholesterol is a correlation rather than a causation and modern medicine has not yet found the real problem?
Ken, you don't seem to put much stock in anecdotal evidence, but I have to close with a personal example. Thanks to my family genetics (explained above) I always had high cholesterol. In a younger day I ran 70 miles a week and raced mountain bikes all over the country and yet my cholesterol never dropped below 200. In the past 20 years it has dropped to 100. The only big change I made in my life - other than gaining weight and becoming older and less fit - is I became a vegan. You may or may not be correct that people will see their cholesterol rise if they become fat vegetarians as they age, but I can vouch they may see it drop if they give up all animal products and become vegans as they age.
Motomynd
ReplyDeleteThe answer to your questions is the same as the answer to my proposed hypothetical: “Suppose I’m right—that eating animal products is the cause of Heart Disease—why might it be that most doctors don’t specifically say so?” Since no one has volunteered an answer, I will do so. The simple answer is: “The truth is not profitable to the medical profession”!
Jim, since I'm a vegan of 20 years you are sort of preaching to the choir here, but even as a devout believer in "veganism" I still search for ways to prove its advantages. Having nearly been killed twice in my life by doctors and/or their prescribed medications, you are likewise preaching to the choir about the medical profession and its financial motivations. So while I don't at all doubt they would keep quiet about the health risks of meat if it pushed the profit meter, without facts to prove it I still don't have a supportable argument to use against those who eat meat.
ReplyDeleteIf eating meat causes heart disease then all the older members of my family should have succumbed at early ages rather than far outliving typical lifespans. My grandmother practically lived on meat, along with pie and pancakes and what few green vegetables should could not find a way to avoid, and yet she was active, ambulatory and doing the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle at age 99. Meanwhile, I have been a vegan for 20 years, and am circumspect about diet and exercise - and I have more than 40 years to go to match her! While I am absolutely sure a vegan diet has vastly improved my life, health and fitness, I am 40 years from being confident it is going to do more for me than my grandmother's meat-laden diet did for her.
So my question is not only how do we know cholesterol is a real problem, how do we know meat is a real problem? There any number of moral reasons that should make people think seriously about giving up meat, but are there really any proven health factors? Is it possible it is the chemicals in meat that are doing the damage to people, not the meat itself? And is it possible the meat industry is dosing with those chemicals to keep people addicted to meat, much like the cigarette manufacturers did with nicotine?
I'm pretty quick to attribute cynical motives to people, yet reluctant to believe that doctors would know a medical truth but suppress it because it didn't pay. (The drug companies, who seem to thrive on evil, are a different matter.) My question is not about what doctors say but what they do. What percentage of doctors are vegetarians, and how does this compare to the general population?
DeleteHOPE EVERYONE HAD A GREAT THANKSIVING…
DeleteTo answer your questions:
“How do we know cholesterol is a real problem, how do we know meat is a real problem?” It’s not just cholesterol that is the problem. It has fatty friends that contribute to the plaque buildup in the arteries. But, it turns out, these friends are all bundled together in animal foods. Cholesterol has no friends in plant foods. I focus on cholesterol for two reasons. First is to “keep it simple”. I’m a KISS (“Keep Is Simple Stupid”) guy. The medical profession for whatever reason tends to complicate things. For example, it will tell you that there are umpteen components to Heart Disease in addition to cholesterol: hypertension; heredity; connections to other diseases like hypothyroidism; old age; obesity; on and on and on. (I’ve heard of one doctor who tells his patents that he doesn’t know why they have Heart Disease because there are 256 components of Heart Disease. But he does know how to treat them by golly! – with expensive surgery, pills and potions all administered with superb bedside manner.)
Second is because there is no disagreement that there is a statistical link between the level of cholesterol in our bloodstream and the buildup of cholesterol plaques in our arteries. So I KISS it and ask the simple logical question, “What is the source of the cholesterol?” It is not surprising to hear that your grandmother lived alertly to the ripe old age of 99 (and beyond?) with high cholesterol. Although Heart Disease is the number one killer, not everyone with it dies from it. I suspect she was a moderate person (ate sparingly) and was thin as a wafer. Be that as it may, you were wise not to rationalize that “grandma lived to a ripe old age eating meat, so can I.”
"There any number of moral reasons that should make people think seriously about giving up meat, but are there really any proven health factors?"
There are many proven health factors. Science solidly supports the health benefits of a plant based diet. (I eagerly await Morsitotle’s review of the documentary "Forks Over Knives" on some “Always On Sunday”. It’s loaded with science. FYI it's easily found on NetFlix.) However, not to sound cynical, but I probably do, it’s my impression that most people have jello for brains when it comes to science. That is, most people cannot tell the difference between science and bullshit. So they tend to believe: what they learned in their formative years; what the majority believes; what those with comforting bedside manner say; what articulate men of stature like real doctors albeit motivated by profit say as opposed to what fake doctors like “Doctor” Rix albeit using solid KISS logic say; etc.
"Is it possible it is the chemicals in meat that are doing the damage to people, not the meat itself?" Chemicals in meat can definitely do damage to people, but more likely causing cancers rather than contributing to Heart Disease. Pristine meat on its own does its fair share of damage.
"And is it possible the meat industry is dosing with those chemicals to keep people addicted to meat, much like the cigarette manufacturers did with nicotine?" High unlikely. Unlike breaking the cigarette habit, it’s easy to cut down or stop consuming meat. All anyone has to do is make up their mind to do and then just do it. If done right there is no withdrawal.
Ken, I suspect that the percentage of vegetarian doctors is roughly the same as the population at large. Medical Schools teach doctors only those skills that make a profit. Doctor’s receive little if any meaningful training on nutrition because it’s not profitable. The essence of the mainstream medical business is captured in Upton Sinclair’s quote (which I paraphrase from memory and adapt to this discussion): “It’s difficult to get a doctor to understand something when his income depends upon him not understanding it.”
DeleteJim, thank you for the well thought out reply. I will add that to the form letter I maintain and regularly email to people when they ask me if being a vegan is really worth the trouble. I will admit I also sometimes email this letter without a request. Usually with a heading along the lines of "it was great to see you again...but it looks like you have probably gained 20 or 30 pounds since I saw you last. Maybe you should try my diet, and here is why....please see attached..."
DeleteThe reason I question the "dosing" of chemicals is a personal experience I suffered through. Long before I became a vegan I tried to give up commercially produced red meat and just eat what wild game and fish I shot or caught - and I went through withdrawal symptoms. After a week or two without store bought meat, but with plenty of protein from wild game, I would become shaky and moody and develop a bizarre craving for a hot dog. I didn't normally eat them but for some reason when I cut back other red meat, that is exactly what my system demanded. Eventually I would give in, eat one hot dog, and it settled my system.
After about 90 days of this yo-yo effect I broke through and I haven't had commercially raised meat in the 30-plus years since. A hot dog is arguably the worst form of industrially produced meat and probably the most packed with chemicals, so I developed the theory that my system was withdrawing from the additives, not the meat itself.
Ken, this link http://www.wisegeek.com/has-it-been-proven-that-a-vegetarian-diet-is-really-healthier.htm is not a direct answer to your question about percentage of doctors who are vegetarians, but it provides a quick wrap up of many recent studies.
Thanks for the link, Moto. It does not offer a direct answer or even an indirect one. Nor does it address the question of what is the best diet, or if there is a best. I concede that a vegetarian diet is healthier than one laden with red and processed meats, but "don't poison yourself" is hardly a dietary endorsement.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMoto, Interesting hot dog story. Perhaps there's something to it. And big thanks for the wiseGEEK link. Those geeks are indeed wise. It's refreshing to see a no bullshit website. They're out there but few and far between.
DeleteHere's another link to ponder:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl/feb/excerpt.htm
Jim, glad you liked the wiseGEEK site. As for Ken, I will have to say that for a confirmed carnivore, Reagan apologist, sometimes Fox-minded guy who won't let facts get in the way of a good argument, he takes some pretty good photos.
ReplyDeleteYes he does.....
ReplyDelete