The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life (21 page)

Restricting calories and maintaining a favorable body weight, in an environment of adequate micronutrient intake, dramatically increases longevity and reduces cancer risk in humans, but only if the animal protein intake is significantly restricted. Furthermore, reducing animal protein intake is more powerful at enhancing lifespan than chronic calorie restriction in humans.

Exercise can also lower IGF-1 levels. A study published in the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
investigated the effects of long-distance running and diet on reducing IGF-1, comparing levels in vegans and SAD eaters, both of whom were relatively sedentary.
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They
contacted local running clubs to study runners averaging 48 miles a week, and local vegetarian societies to find healthy-eating vegans. The results were impressive:

The study noted that the low-protein-consuming vegans were not eating a low-fat diet. They were eating plenty of nuts and seeds and even used olive oil. In all groups, plasma IGF-1 levels correlated linearly with dietary protein intake, and reduced animal protein intake had a more powerful effect at reducing levels of IGF-1 and inflammatory markers compared with endurance exercise.

The average daily protein intake in the vegans was 0.73 grams per kilogram of body weight, whereas the other groups consumed about twice that amount. Also of interest was that IGF-1 was the major difference, not testosterone and other sex hormones, which did not differ significantly between the groups.

Red Meat, Gut Bacteria, and Heart Disease

The high-protein intake from animal products doesn’t just accelerate aging and produce cancer. Excessive meat intake has also been associated with an elevated risk of cardiovascular death.
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For example, combined data from the Nurses’ Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which together examined more than 120,000 people, estimated that each serving of red meat a day raises the risk of cardiovascular death by a whopping 18 percent.

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Claudia was a “Vegjunkatarian,” mistaking her avoidance of meat for healthy eating until she turned to a nutritarian approach and realized true health with renewed energy
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BEFORE:
120 pounds

AFTER:
90 pounds

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was fifteen years old. My vegetarian diet was similar to the disease-promoting diet that most Americans eat, minus the meat, of course. I was addicted to junk foods like pizza, French fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, and vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. I seemed to always struggle either to lose weight or keep it off. Eventually I eliminated all dairy products, which brought my cholesterol down to a healthy level, but I was still eating disease-promoting foods.

I was always a low-energy person and didn’t like to exercise. Deprivation dieting and exercise were both burdens to me, so I didn’t stick with either of them. I also developed a large fibroid on my uterus, which placed limitations on my ability to be physically active.

I had been following a starch-based vegan diet. I had lost some weight, but I always felt hungry. I constantly thought about the next meal and had to carefully count calories in order to avoid overeating. My skin looked pale and was extremely dry. I then discovered and began following Dr. Fuhrman’s nutritarian program. I am now vibrant, colorful, and alive—functioning every day at my very best and enjoying life to the fullest! I enjoy the food that I eat now, and I love the fact that I can eat this way, feel great, and stay at an ideal weight. I now enjoy an active life and have the energy to do so much more than I ever did before.

I love knowing that I’m in control of my health destiny, and that I’m not doomed to suffer and die from chronic diseases that plague many Americans. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve tried and failed in the past—anyone can do this.

High saturated fat and the heme iron contents of red meat have also been demonstrated to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. Saturated fats are known to elevate total cholesterol and LDL levels, and excess iron is associated with oxidative stress, which promotes atherosclerosis.
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Interestingly, one of the mechanisms by which the combination of saturated fat and red meat increases disease risk is that saturated fat intake facilitates the absorption of the heme iron. Heme iron and saturated fat can work synergistically to oxidize cholesterol, increasing the small oxidized LDL particles that are the most dangerous. Your body can turn down the absorption of non-heme iron (from plant foods) if it’s not currently in need of iron, but it absorbs the heme iron found in animal foods whether it needs iron or not. Iron is an essential mineral that transports oxygen in the blood and has many other crucial functions, but an excess of iron leads to free radical damage, which increases your susceptibility to chronic diseases, especially those with an oxidative stress component such as heart disease and stroke.
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A recent meta-analysis further confirmed the link between red and processed meat and the substantial increased risk of ischemic stroke.
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Heme iron can also promote the peroxidation of dietary fat, even salad oils, so a diet rich in red meat along with vegetable oil and salad oil can increase free radical damage from the oil.

Several studies have found that a higher intake of meat and heme iron is also linked to high blood pressure, while intake of high non-heme iron (from plant foods) is associated with low blood pressure.
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Wait, there is more fascinating new research that has revealed another mechanism by which red and white meat increases cardiovascular risk—by modulating the species of bacteria that populate our digestive tract. What we eat determines which species of bacteria thrive in our guts. Healthful, fiber-rich plant foods provide an energy source (“prebiotics”) for beneficial bacteria to grow.
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For example, carnitine,
an amino acid abundant in animal products, is barely present in plant foods, if at all. The human body can produce adequate amounts of carnitine from other amino acids such as lysine and methionine. (Cells require carnitine to transport fatty acid.) The mechanism was first discovered in mice, when scientists found that carnitine in the diet was metabolized by intestinal bacteria, producing trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). This is a substance previously shown to contribute to atherosclerotic plaque development by slowing the removal of cholesterol from the arterial wall. Then when analyzing the blood levels of carnitine and TMAO in human subjects, these same scientists found that high levels of these two substances combined to increase the likelihood of cardiovascular disease or cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke. When they gave humans carnitine supplements, those who were omnivores produced far more TMAO than vegans and vegetarians. In addition, the species of gut bacteria in omnivores differed from the species found in vegetarians and vegans. These results suggest that regularly eating meat promotes the growth of gut bacteria that can metabolize carnitine into a heart disease–promoting substance.
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Such results suggest that those of us who regularly consume a healthful diet of mostly whole plant foods have a healthier microbial profile and are therefore less susceptible to the problems associated with carnitine. An overwhelming amount of evidence now links meat to cancer and premature death, leaving no doubt that even pasture-raised meat and meat products should generally be avoided or minimized in the diet.
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If you still want to eat meat, you should eat it as if it were a condiment; that is, only eat it a few times a week and in small amounts. Remember to choose the most natural and cleanest sources of meat possible: grass-fed meats, wild fish, and naturally raised, hormone-free poultry. And avoid dangerous processed meats, barbecued meats, lunch meats, bacon, hot dogs, and any pickled, darkened, or blackened animal products.

Eat Safely, Wisely, and Well

Sure, we need enough protein for muscle growth and maintenance and protection against age-related skeletal decline, but this need is best met by including protein-rich plant proteins into your diet, most notably greens, beans, and seeds. Green vegetables, beans and other legumes, and seeds are rich in plant protein and have cancer-preventive, not cancer-promoting, properties. For optimal cancer protection, you should get the vast majority of your calories from vegetables, beans, fruits, whole grains, nuts, and seeds (see Table 1).

All animal products, including meat, fish, and dairy, are low or completely lacking in the nutrients that protect us against cancer and heart attacks: fiber, antioxidants, and hundreds of phytochemicals. So many people have been indoctrinated to think that animal protein is needed or superior to plant protein, when the opposite is true.

In the past, I have recommended eggs as the cleanest source of animal protein. But recent studies have forced me to reconsider eggs as a recommended animal product option for overweight individuals. These studies have established that a high consumption of eggs can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and prostate cancer. Eggs are high in cholesterol, and high cholesterol impairs your body’s glucose tolerance and pancreatic function, which can lead to diabetes, and for people who already have diabetes, to premature death. The Physicians’ Health Study, for example, reported a 23 percent increased death rate from those eating more than one egg a day.
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These negative effects were substantially higher in diabetics. The Health Professionals Follow-up Study found that people who ate more than one egg per week substantially increased their risk of developing diabetes. People who ate more than seven eggs a week increased this risk by 58 percent.
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If an individual already had diabetes, death rates doubled if that person consumed more than seven eggs a week. Similarly, a Greek study of diabetics
reported a fivefold increase in cardiovascular death for people who ate at least one egg per day.
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Eggs are also particularly rich in choline, which, like cholesterol, is highly concentrated in prostate cancer cells.
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A 2011 study that followed 27,607 men from 1994 to 2008 found that the ones who consumed two and a half or more eggs per week had an 81 percent increased risk of prostate cancer compared with men who consumed less than half an egg per week.
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The Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which looked at the egg consumption of 47,896 men, corroborated this. Men in the highest quintile of choline intake had a 70 percent increased risk of prostate cancer.
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Other studies have found choline to be involved in cancer growth and progression.
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For example, increased choline intake was associated with a higher risk of colorectal adenomas in the highly respected Nurses’ Health Study.
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A 2012 study measured the correlation between egg yolk consumption and carotid artery plaque in more than twelve hundred individuals. The plaque inside blood vessels increased proportionately to the number of egg yolks consumed. For those with the highest egg consumption, the results were almost as bad as they would have been if the study subjects had been smokers.
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Individuals who ate the most eggs yolks, averaging about four per week, exhibited two-thirds the plaque formation in their carotid arteries as a person who smoked a pack a day for forty years! Study after study continues to show that egg yolks aren’t as harmless as advertised, or as generally believed. They are especially risky for overweight people with prediabetes or diabetes.

I want you to stop worrying about consuming enough protein. Almost all Americans get enough daily protein. In fact, the average American consumes more than 100 grams of protein each day, about 50 percent more than the recommended daily amount. You don’t need to rely on animal products for protein. Almost any assortment of vegetables,
beans, whole grains, seeds, and nuts will supply about 40 grams of protein per 1,000 calories. This means that a typical 2,000-calorie diet provides us about 80 grams of protein—much more than what we need.

I hope you realize now that our common concern ingrained in us in our childhood about getting sufficient protein was an error. The main concern should be about not getting too much. When we meet our needs for calories with natural plant foods, we automatically get sufficient protein—without even trying.

The only way even a vegan diet could be deficient in protein is if the diet were composed of almost all fruit, refined grains, and junk food. Vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds all have adequate amounts of protein. It’s exceedingly rare that an individual has unique needs that necessitate his or her eating animal products to get more protein, and when that does occur, a very small amount of animal product suffices. Generally, other high-protein plant foods can be substituted, even for individuals who require more protein.