A Newsy Roundup
Things have been hopping in the WFPB World
“Effects of Intensive Lifestyle Changes on the Progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment or Early Dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial.” That’s the long-version title of a study led by Dr. Dean Ornish and an army of other researchers. The study is designed to see whether lifestyle changes alone, without any medication, has an effect on those suffering from Alzheimer’s. And the results have come in.
Results.
The patients who made lifestyle changes “showed significantly less progression, compared to the control group which worsened in all four measures.” And “There was a significant correlation between lifestyle and both cognitive function and the plasma Aβ42/40 ratio. The microbiome improved only in the intervention group.” (Ornish et al.)
Lifestyle changes improved cognitive function and slowed disease progression in Alzheimer’s patients without any other medication.
That’s freaking amazing. And it’s just the first study. The hope is that there will be many more, both to confirm and this research, and to take it further.
What Lifestyle Changes?
So what are the lifestyle changes that the study’s subjects adopted? (I mean, if you’re reading this, you’re obviously a smart person, so you’ve guessed by now.)
“In brief, the participants were instructed to eat a whole food, plant-based diet (fruits, vegetables, legumes, soy products*) low in refined carbohydrates**, exercise for a minimum of 3h/w (e.g. walking,) attend group support meetings, and practice stress management techniques such as restorative yoga and mediation for 1 h/day.” (Ornish et al.)
I noticed that some publications reporting on the study’s results refer to the above as “The Mediterranean Diet.” That is not the same thing at all. The Mediterranean Diet includes oils, dairy products, eggs, fish, and poultry. The whole food plant-based diet includes nothing on that list, and reading from the study itself (above) that’s not what these subjects ate. It’s far from what the subjects ate, actually.
My Notes
A couple of footnotes here.
*By “soy products,” the doctors do not mean chick’n nuggets, fake burgers or their ultra-processed kin. They mean tofu, tempeh, and soy milk.
**By refined carbohydrates they mean refined white sugar, refined white flour and all the lovely breads, cookies, donuts, etc, that are made from them. Those wouldn’t be a part of a whole food, plant based diet because they are not “Whole foods.” Carbs from vegetables and whole grains are not refined and are included in a whole food, plant-based diet.
So that was recent, and it was everywhere. I saw it on CNN, MSNBC, and all over the net.
We made CNN
CNN, meanwhile, gave excellent coverage (at least on their website) to a study designed to find the best diet for both the environment and human health. That study came up with a mainly whole food, plant-based diet.
“Animals that chew their cud can emit noxious gases with an astounding impact on the environment” The study says. “Burps and poo from cattle, sheep and goats generate methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the planet.” (LaMotte)
The study notes that just one single cow can emit up to 500 liters of methane per day.
“Eating a planet-healthy diet, however, cuts land use by 51%, greenhouse gas emissions by 29% and fertilizer use by 21%, while also extending the lives of people, according to the study.” (LaMotte)
What this group calls the Planet-First Diet, cuts the risk of early death from all causes by almost a third. I’ll note that their version of the diet includes minimal amounts of meat and dairy.
Zero meat and dairy is a far better goal. Any amount of animal protein is carcinogenic, full of hormones, inflammatory, harmful to the heart, harmful to the arteries, and furthermore is unspeakably cruel, and harms the planet. I see no good reason to eat any at all.
Junk Food Vegan V Whole Food Vegan — The Study
Another recent study compares the impact of a plant-based diet that excludes ultra-processed plant-based foods (UPFs), and one that includes ultra-processed plant-based foods.
The results are predictable.
Plant-based diet, NO UPFs:
Risk of cardiovascular disease DROPS by 7%.
Mortality rate from same DROPS by 13%
Plant-based diet, WITH UPFs:
Risk of cardiovascular disease goes up by 5%.
Mortality rate from same goes up by 12%.
So the risk of heart disease for a junk food vegan is 12% higher than for a WFPB vegan, and the risk of death from heart disease is a whopping 25% higher for the vegan who indulges in junk food. (Rauber et al.)
And when I say junk food I mean all the ultra-processed “plant-based” crap in the grocery store. The burgers, the nuggets, the hot dogs, the sausages, the ice cream, the butter, the mayo, the deli meats (aside from Suzy’s Seitan.) Save these foods for rare treats if you must, but do not make them a part of your everyday meals. They are not healthy. They are, in fact, harmful to your health.
If you eat them, you will help save the planet. Thank you. But you will also get sicker than you have to, and die sooner than you have to. Just take that one extra step. Eliminate the junk food. Learn to cook.
Wrap up
So let’s tally up the things currently being mitigated, prevented, or reversed by switching to a whole food, plant-based diet.
Heart disease
Lupus
Colo-rectal Cancer
Type II Diabetes
Coronary Artery Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease
Stroke
Hypertension
High Cholesterol
High A1C
Obesity
Depression
Anxiety
Multiple Sclerosis
Climate change
Ocean hypoxic zones (Dead Zones)
Critical planetary loss of biodiversity
Unspeakable animal cruelty
Holy mother of broccoli! That’s a lot.
So my only question is…
What are you waiting for?
Sources Cited
LaMotte, Sandee. “Eating What’s Best for the Planet Can Lengthen Your Life, Study Says.” CNN, 10 June 2024, www.cnn.com/2024/06/10/health/planetary-diet-longevity-study-wellness/index.html.
Ornish, Dean, et al. “Effects of Intensive Lifestyle Changes on the Progression of Mild Cognitive Impairment or Early Dementia due to Alzheimer’s Disease: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial.” Alzheimer’s Research & Therapy, vol. 16, no. 1, 7 June 2024, p. 122, rdcu.be/dK2yn, https://doi.org/10.1186/s13195-024-01482-z. Accessed 17 June 2024.
Rauber, Fernanda, et al. “Implications of Food Ultra-Processing on Cardiovascular Risk Considering Plant Origin Foods: An Analysis of the UK Biobank Cohort.” the Lancet Regional Health. Europe, 1 June 2024, pp. 100948–100948, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2024.100948. Accessed 16 June 2024.
Post-Script
Eat Like You Give a Shit and The Bliss Blog are my side gigs. My main gig is as NY Times and USA Today bestselling author Maggie Shayne. I’ve published more than 100 stories with nearly every major house in the industry. More than 8 million copies of my novels have been sold worldwide, among them thrillers like my reader-favorite Brown and de Luca Novels. You can learn more about that series and my other novels below.
