Fast Mimicking Diet 6 Implications for Coronary Artery Disease
April 09, 2018Fast Mimicking Diet 6: Implications for Coronary Artery Disease
References: Whitehall Study, Science, BMJ, Public Health Nutr, Annals of Int Med, BMJ,
Heart attacks are what we die from in America. Fifty percent of us will meet our maker via heart attack, both men and women. It is the penultimate sign of aging, and the last sign for 30% of those who present with sudden death as their first indication of heart disease. We have made huge strides in reducing morbidity and mortality from heart disease in the last 50 years. Longo's estimate is that we would have roughly 3-4 times the effectiveness on reducing mortality if we focused on enhancing resilience and longevity with the Fast Mimicking genetic program.
Ok, I'm in. Give me the details as they exist now. Let's start with historical perspective. We know from the Whitehall Study in England that heart disease declines in frequency until your blood glucose is 86. We define diabetes as 124. Hmm. That's obviously an arbitrary definition made by a committee. The implication is that the lower your glucose is, the less heart disease you will have. All right.
Second concept. The Madison, Wisconsin Rhesus monkey study in which two groups of monkeys were compared with normal diet versus 30% reduction showed that 42% of the normal control diet developed diabetes versus none of the calorie restricted. And cardiovascular disease was reduced 50% in the calorie restricted diet.
What we don't have is large studies looking specifically at the "Longevity Diet" for coronary artery disease. Instead, we have studies that are close, and probably close enough to be legitimate comparisons. For example, Sofi and Cesari show that adherence to a "Mediterranean Diet" has dramatic reductions in heart disease, Parkinsons, cancer, diabetes. And the closer you adhere to a "Mediterranean Diet" the less heart disease you have. The overlap of "Mediterranean" and Longevity diets is significant. Both are founded on high olive oil, legumes and unrefined cereals, low meat, eggs and cheese, What the Longevity adds is evidence based additions like Time Restricted Feeding with an 11-12 hour feeding window and a 12-13 hour fasting daily, lower animal protein intentionally and lower fruit use.
And the opposite argument is valuable too. If you eat more animal protein and less carbs, as in one arm of the Harvard Professional Health study, you show that mortality doubled from all causes and increased 40% with cardiovascular disease. If low carb but vegetable based, increased CV disease disappeared. Another study from Sweden of 43,396 women showed a 5% increase in cardiovascular disease for each 5 gram increase in protein intake concomitant with a 20 gram decrease of carbs.
Finally, we have Dean Ornish's and Caldwell Esselstyn's diets in which folks are kept on extremely low fat, vegan diets. Their patients also showed regression of coronary artery disease. Their limitation is that compliance requires intense discipline, and most folks can't maintain it. My conclusion: we have something real here. The challenge is to make it palatable and sustainable. Well, nuts and olive oils are tasty. Fish is pretty good too. Including these fits in the Mediterranean construct, but also matches the behavior of long lived populations like the Okinawans, Greeks of Ikaria, Italians of Calabria, Seventh Day Adventists of California.
WWW.What will work for me. Heart disease is the elephant in the room. It's what we Americans get. And we get it in proportion to our obesity, and our blood sugar level. I've eaten low carb, high protein for two years and ended up with an A1c of 5.9. Low carb is a fine way to lose weight, in the short term. The longer term is now revealed with this new idea: episodic 5-day fasts combined with a low animal protein, high olive oil, high vegetable diet. I've switched my breakfast from two eggs to one egg with spinach made in coconut oil.
Pop Quiz
- Increasing animal protein by 5% will increase your risk of heart disease by? Answer: 5%
- Animal protein turns on what "aging" pathway? Answer: The mTOR pathway
- At what level of glucose does heart disease no longer occur? Answer: 86 (And we define diabetes as 124)
- Name key components of the Fast Mimicking Diet. Answer: Daily 12 hour fasting, monthly-quarterly 5 day fasting, low animal protein, high vegetable, low sugar, low refined grains, no trans fat,
- The best research studies we have that show the benefit of the Longevity diet looks at what current eating pattern? Answer: The Mediterranean Diet, but we will give you credit for saying Ornish's or Esselstyn's too