Plant based foods most effective in treating heart ailments -- US Doc
ALIGARH: A leading US surgeon has questioned the efficacy of interventions like coronory artery bypass, angioplasty and stenting in treating heart diseases, saying a plant-based diet is the most effective way out of such ailments.
"Mechanical interventions treat only the symp- toms and not the disease. The leading killer of men and women in western civilisations is thus being left untreated" Dr Caldwell Esselstyn, head of thy- roid and parathyroid surgery at the Cleveland clin- ic, told a gathering at the Jawaharial Nehru Medical College, Aligarh Muslim University, on Thursday.
Caldwefl, who is in India on a visit sponsored by the Washington based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, (www.pcrm.org) said the most effective way of not only preventing heart diseases but also curing them was to follow a strict diet regulation which lfad "only plant-based foods".
He also warned against consuming dairy prod- ucts and vegetable oils.
Caidwell reached these conclusions after a 12- year study on 24 patients. The study was published in the Amciican Journal of Cardiology.
'According to his study, lhe best foods were grains, legumes lentils, vegetables, fruits but not .ftuit juices. As processed cereals had oils and sugar, they must be avoided. Plant-based diet would also help patients suffering from diabetes, cancer, obesity and hypertension, he said.
From "The Times of India, Bombay edition, Saturday, November 11, 2000"
