HEART DISEASE: OUR MOST COMMON KILLER
By Dr. Lon Jones, D.O.

Heart disease is still the number one killer in the United States. There's a lot a person can do to decrease the risk of heart disease, like not smoking, controlling blood pressure and cholesterol levels, exercising regularly, eating less red meat and more fish, consuming a host of vitamins -from folic acid to Co Q 10-and even going to church.

I recently attended a conference where the speaker was the editor of the American Journal of Cardiology, a very wise and experienced cardiologist. Before his presentation, he gave us all a list of twenty questions about heart disease. The first question was about atherosclerosis, the depositing of hard plaques on the inside of blood vessels,  the underlying cause of heart disease. He then posed the question: "What kind of animal gets atherosclerosis?" The options were: herbivores (plant eaters), carnivores (meat eaters), or omnivores (those eating both). What do you think?

With all the information we have about meat, cholesterol and heart disease, the most likely response would be 'carnivore.' This is also the answer selected by many of the doctors present. However, it's wrong. A dog is a carnivore; his teeth are pointed and his gut is short. Dogs can be given endless amounts of cholesterol and they will not get atherosclerosis.  Experiments with rabbits on the other hand produce wonderful plaques when given high cholesterol diets. Rabbits are herbivores; they have flat teeth and a long gut. Humans also have flat teeth and a long gut and share other characteristics of the herbivores. Humans, however, are usually not considered herbivores. Yet according to our anatomical similarities with other herbivores, man is an herbivore. Therefore, the correct answer to his question was herbivores. These are the animals that get atherosclerosis when they eat meat.

The human body has, in part, adapted to this diet over the thousands of years we have consumed meat. However, recent changes have made this adaptation more challenging. Over the past 40 years beef production has become more efficient. Grass fed cattle are now put into feedlots, where they are fattened up for the kill. The controlled diets of the feedlots are designed to put more weight on the cattle and a large part of this is fat that marbles the meat and makes it more tasty. These "choice" cuts are, more than other meats, the ones that cause atherosclerosis.  It's the steer's revenge.

So the common sense medical tip this week is to cut back on the amount of meat you eat. It makes some sense to turn the old "no meat on Friday" around to meat only on Friday. More meals need to consist of whole grains, fruits and vegetables instead of meat.