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On a personal note,

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this is a picture of me
taken around the time that my grandmother

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was diagnosed with end-stage heart
disease and sent home to die.

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She already had so many bypass surgeries,

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basically run out of plumbing,

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confined to a wheel chair,
crushing chest pain.

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Her life was over at age 65.

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But then she heard about
this guy, Nathan Pritikin,

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one of our early
lifestyle medicine pioneers,

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and what happened next is actually
detailed in Pritikin's biography.

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My grandma was one
of the "death's door" people.

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Frances Greger, my grandmother,
arrived in a wheel chair.

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Mrs. Greger had heart disease,
angina, claudication.

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Her condition is so bad,

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she could no longer walk
without great pain in her chest and legs.

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Within three weeks, though,

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she was not only out of her wheel chair,

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she was walking 10 miles a day!

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Here's a picture of my grandma
at her grandson's wedding,

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15 years after doctors
abandoned her to die.

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She was given a medical death sentence
at age 65, but thanks to a healthy diet,

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She was able to enjoy another 31 years on
this planet until age 96 --

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(Applause)

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to enjoy her six grand kids including me.

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That's why I went into medicine.

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(Laughter)

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Years later, when Dr. Dean Ornish published
his landmark lifestyle heart trial,

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proving with something called
quantitative angiography,

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that indeed heart disease could
be reversed, arteries opened up,

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without drugs, without surgery,

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just a plant-based diet
and lifestyle program,

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I assumed this was going 
to be the game changer.

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My family had seen it with their own eyes,
but here it was in black and white,

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published in some of the most prestigious
medical journals in the world,

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yet nothing happened.

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I said, "wait a second."

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If effectively the cure
to our number one killer

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could get lost 
down some rabbit hole and ignored,

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what else might there be in the medical
literature that could help my patients,

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but just didn't have a corporate
budget driving its promotion?

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Well, I made it
my life's mission to find out.

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For those who are not familiar
with my work,

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every year I read through

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every issue of every English language
nutrition journal in the world

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so busy folks like you don't have to.

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(Laughter)

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I then compile the most interesting,
ground breaking, and practical findings

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in new videos and articles I upload daily
to my nonprofit site, NutritionFacts.org.

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Everything on the website is free.

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There are no ads
and no corporate sponsorships.

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Strictly non-commercial.
Not selling anything.

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Just put it up as a public
service, as a labor of love,

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as a tribute to my grandmother.

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New videos and articles every day on
the latest in evidence-based nutrition.

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What a concept!

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So where did Pritikin
get his evidence from?

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A network of missionary hospitals
set up throughout sub-Saharan Africa

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uncovered what may be one of the
most important medical advance --

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according to one of our best
medical figures of the last century,

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Dr. Dennis Burkit --

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the fact that many of our major
and commonest diseases

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were universally rare, like heart disease.

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In the African population of Uganda,
for example,

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coronary heart disease
was almost non-existent.

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Wait a second,
our number one killer almost non-existent?

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What were they eating?

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(Laughter)

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Well, they're eating
lots of vegetables and grains and greens,

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and their protein almost
entirely from plant sources,

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and they had the cholesterol
levels to prove it,

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very similar to what one sees
in kind of a modern day plant eater.

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You say, "Wait a second."

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Maybe they were just dying early, never
lived long enough to get heart disease.

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No. Here's age-matched heart attack
rates in Uganda versus St. Louis.

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Out of 632 autopsies in Uganda,
only one myocardial infarction.

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Out of 632 age and gender matched
autopsies in Missouri,

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136 myocardial infarctions --

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more than 100 times
the rate of our leading killer.

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They were so blown away, went back,
did another 800 autopsies in Uganda.

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Still just that one small healed infarct;
it wasn't even the cause of death.

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Out of 1,427 patients, less than 1/1,000,

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whereas here our disease is an epidemic.

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Atherosclerosis, hardening of arteries,
is a disease that begins in childhood.

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By age 10, nearly all the kids raised 
on the standard American diet

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already have fatty streaks
building up inside of their arteries --

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the first stage of the disease.

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These streaks then
turn into plaques in our 20s,

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get worse in our 30s,
an then can start killing us off.

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In the heart, it's called a heart attack;

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in the brain, the same disease
can cause a stroke.

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So if there's anyone here today
older than age 10 --

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(Laughter)

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then the question isn't whether or not
to eat healthy to prevent heart disease;

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it's whether you want to reverse
the heart disease you likely already have,

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whether you know it or not.

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But is that even possible?

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When researchers took people
with heart disease,

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put them on the plant-based diet

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eaten by populations
that didn't get epidemic heart disease,

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their hope was that we could
slow the disease down a bit,

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maybe even stop it.

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But instead something miraculous happened.

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As soon as people stopped
eating artery-clogging diets,

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their bodies were able to dissolve
some of the plaque away,

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opening arteries, only without drugs,
without surgery,

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suggesting the bodies
wanted to be healthy all along,

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but weren't never given the chance.

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That remarkable improvement in blood
flow to the heart muscle itself

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was after just three weeks
of plant-based nutrition.

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The human body is a self-healing machine,

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unless you're sticking it
with a fork three times a day.

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Now sure, you can use moderation 
and hit yourself with a smaller hammer --

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(Laughter)

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but why beat yourself up at all?

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This is nothing new.

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American Heart Journal, 1977,
cases like Mr. F.W. here.

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His heart disease was so bad,

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that he couldn't even
make it to the mail box.

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He started eating healthier,
and a few months later,

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he was climbing mountains, with no pain.

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All right?

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(Laughter)

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Now there are these fancy new classes
of anti-angina drugs on the market now.

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They cost thousands of dollars a year,

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but at the highest dose, may be able
to extend exercise duration

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as long as 33.5 seconds.

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(Laughter)

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It doesn't look like those
choosing the drugs

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are going to be climbing
mountains anytime soon.

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(Laughter)

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Plant-based diets aren't just
safer and cheaper.

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They can work better since you're treating
the underlying cause of the disease.

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Normally I'd go on to cancer and talk
about the other 15 leading causes of death,

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talk about how diet may playing a role
in preventing, arresting, and reversing

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each of our top 15 killers, but
what more do you need to know?

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There's only one diet ever been proven
to reverse heart disease

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in the majority of patients:
a plant-based diet.

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So any time someone tries to sell you
on some new diet, do me a favor,

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Ask them one simple question.

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"Has this diet been proven
to reverse heart disease,

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the number one reason
me and my loved ones will die?"

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I mean, if the answer is, "No,"
why would you even consider it?

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If that's all a plant-based diet could do,

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reverse the number one killer
of men and women,

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shouldn't that kind of be default
diet until proven otherwise?

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The fact it can also be useful
to prevent, arrest, and reverse

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other top killers like
type II diabetes and hypertension

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would seem to make the case for
plant-based eating simply overwhelming.

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Most deaths in the United States 
are preventable

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and related to nutrition.

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According to the Global Burden
of Disease study,

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the largest study of human
disease risk factors in history,

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funded by the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,

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the number one cause of death in
these United States: it's our diet.

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The number one cause of disability
in the United States: it's our diet.

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Now bumping tobacco smoking to number two,

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cigarettes now only kill about a half
a million Americans every year,

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whereas our diet kills hundreds
of thousands more.

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So if most deaths are preventable,
related to nutrition,

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then obviously nutrition
is the number one thing

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taught in medical school, right?

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(Laughter)

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I mean, I mean, obviously
it's the number one thing

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your doctor talks to you about
every single visit, right?

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How could there be this disconnect

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between the science
and the practice of medicine?

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Let's do a thought experiment.

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Imagine yourself a smoker
back in the 1950s.

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(Laughter)

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Back in the 1950s the average
per capita cigarette consumption

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was 4,000 cigarettes a year,

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meaning the average person walking around
smoked half a pack a day, on average.

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The media was telling people to smoke.

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Famous athletes agreed, even Santa Claus
wanted you to smoke.

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(Laughter)

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I mean, look.

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You want to keep fit and stay slender?

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So, make sure to smoke 
and eat lots of hot dogs to stay trim,

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and lots of sugar to stay slim and trim.

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A lot better than that apple there.
I mean, sheesh, right?

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"Though apples do connote
goodness and freshness,"

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reads one internal tobacco industry memo,

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bringing up "many possibilities
for youth-oriented cigarettes."

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They wanted to make apple-flavored
cigarettes for kids. Shameless.

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"For digestion's sake, you smoke."

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No curative powers
claimed by Philip Morris,

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but hey, better to be safe
than sorry and smoke.

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"Blow in her face and she'll
follow you anywhere!"

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(Laughter)

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"No woman ever says no."

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They're "so round, so firm,
so fully packed."

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(Laughter)

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After all, John Wayne smoked them
until he got lung cancer and died.

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You know, back then 
even the paleo folks were smoking.

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(Laughter)

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And so were the doctors.

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Now this is not to say there wasn't
controversy within the medical profession.

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Sure, you know, some doctors smoked
Camels, but others preferred Lucky's,

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so there was a little disagreement there.

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The leader of the US Senate agreed,

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who would want
to give their throat a break?

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"Not a single case of throat irritation."

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How could there be when "cigarettes
are just as pure as the water you drink."

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Maybe up in Flint, Michigan.

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(Laughter)

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00:12:13,387 --> 00:12:15,829
But don't worry, if you do get irritated,

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your doctor can just write you
a prescription for cigarettes.

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This is in the Journal
of the American Medical Association.

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00:12:23,740 --> 00:12:26,788
So when the AMA is saying smoking,
on balance, is good for you;

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00:12:26,789 --> 00:12:29,268
when the American Medical
Association is saying that,

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where could you turn back then
if you just wanted the facts?

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00:12:33,990 --> 00:12:36,519
What's the new data advanced by science?

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00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,040
Well, she was too tired for fun,
and "then she smoked a Camel."

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00:12:41,064 --> 00:12:43,064
(Laughter)

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00:12:43,150 --> 00:12:47,140
Babe Ruth spoke of proof-positive
medical science,

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that is when he still could speak
before he died of throat cancer.

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00:12:53,591 --> 00:12:59,053
You know, if by some miracle back then
there was a SmokingFacts.org website

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that could deliver the science directly,

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bypassing commercially
corruptible institutional filters,

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you would have known of studies like this.

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00:13:06,337 --> 00:13:09,699
This is an Adventist study
out of California and published in 1958,

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showing that non-smokers had at least 90%
less lung cancer than smokers, right?

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But this wasn't the first.

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When famed surgeon Michael DeBakey
was asked why studies back in the '30s

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linking lung cancer and
smoking were simply ignored,

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he had to remind people
what it was like back then.

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We were a smoking society.
It was everywhere.

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It was in the movies, airplanes;

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medical meetings
were one heavy haze of smoke.

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Smoking was, in a word, normal.

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00:13:39,660 --> 00:13:42,668
OK. So back to our thought experiment.

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00:13:42,669 --> 00:13:48,099
If you're a smoker in the '50s
in the know, what do you do?

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00:13:48,100 --> 00:13:49,888
I mean with access to the science,

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00:13:50,438 --> 00:13:52,800
you realize the best available
balance of evidence

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00:13:52,825 --> 00:13:55,158
suggests your smoking habit—
not so good for you.

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So do you change or do you wait?

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If you wait until your doc says, between
puffs, to quit, you'd have cancer by then.

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00:14:05,239 --> 00:14:08,198
If you wait until the powers
that be officially recognize it,

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like the Surgeon General did in the
subsequent decade,

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you'd be dead by then.

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It took more than 7,000 studies
and the deaths of countless smokers

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before the first Surgeon General's report
against smoking came out.

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You'd think maybe after
the first 6,000 studies,

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could give people
a little heads up or something?

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Powerful industry.

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00:14:32,753 --> 00:14:38,659
Maybe we should have stopped
smoking after the 700th study, like this.

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00:14:38,928 --> 00:14:42,781
As a smoker in the '50s, one on hand,
you had society, the government,

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the medical profession itself
telling you to smoke.

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00:14:46,620 --> 00:14:50,944
And on the other hand,
all you had was the science,

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if you're even aware of studies like this.

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All right, let's fast forward 55 years.

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There's a new
Adventist study out of California

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warning Americans about something else
they may be putting in their mouths.

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00:15:02,448 --> 00:15:05,500
Of course, it's not just one study;
put all the studies together.

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The mortality from all causes together,
many of our dreaded diseases,

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significantly lower among those eating
more plant-based diets.

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00:15:14,020 --> 00:15:20,511
So, instead of someone going along
with America's smoking habits in the '50s,

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imagine you or someone you know going
along with America's eating habits today.

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What would you do?

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With access to the science, you realize
the best available balance of evidence

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suggests your eating habits
are not so good.

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So do you change, or do you wait?

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If you wait until your doctor tells you,
between bites, to change,

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it'll be too late.

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00:15:43,215 --> 00:15:46,008
In fact even after
the Surgeon General's report came out,

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the American Medical Association
went on record refusing to endorse it.

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00:15:49,457 --> 00:15:53,016
Why? Could it have been because they
were just handed the $10 million check

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from the tobacco industry?
Maybe.

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00:15:56,300 --> 00:15:57,462
(Laughter)

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We know why the tobacco
industry was sucking up,

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00:15:59,901 --> 00:16:02,511
why the AMA was sucking up
to the tobacco industry,

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00:16:02,536 --> 00:16:05,395
but why weren't more and more
individual doctors speaking up?

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There were a few gallant souls
ahead of their time,

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00:16:08,344 --> 00:16:10,718
speaking up against
industries killing millions,

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00:16:10,743 --> 00:16:11,963
but why not more?

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00:16:11,988 --> 00:16:18,857
Maybe it's because the majority
of physicians themselves

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smoked cigarettes.

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00:16:20,425 --> 00:16:22,914
Just like most physicians
today continue to eat foods

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00:16:22,939 --> 00:16:26,156
that are contributing to our
epidemics of dietary disease.

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00:16:26,181 --> 00:16:28,580
What was the AMA's rallying cry back then?

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Everything in moderation.

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Extensive scientific studies have proven
smoking in moderation, oh, that's fine.

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Sound familiar?

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00:16:38,646 --> 00:16:41,395
The food industry used
the same tobacco industry tactics,

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00:16:41,420 --> 00:16:43,758
twisting the science, misinformation.

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00:16:43,871 --> 00:16:45,361
The same scientists were hired,

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00:16:45,386 --> 00:16:48,429
paid to downplay the risks 
of cigarettes and toxic chemicals,

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00:16:48,454 --> 00:16:52,193
are the same paid for by the
National Confectioners Association

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00:16:52,218 --> 00:16:53,927
to downplay the risks of candy,

290
00:16:53,952 --> 00:16:59,054
and the same paid for by the meat
industry to downplay the risks of meat,

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00:16:59,192 --> 00:17:01,673
whereas animal foods and processed foods,

292
00:17:01,698 --> 00:17:07,906
you're killing off at least
14 million people every year.

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00:17:07,931 --> 00:17:11,502
So those of us involved in this kind
of evidence-based nutrition revolution,

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we're talking about 14 million lives
in the balance.

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00:17:15,795 --> 00:17:18,075
Maybe, plant-based nutrition

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00:17:18,099 --> 00:17:22,122
should be considered as the nutritional
equivalent of quitting smoking,

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00:17:22,146 --> 00:17:23,691
but how long do we have to wait

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before the CDC says don't wait
for open heart surgery;

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to start eating healthier as well.

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Until the system changes,

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00:17:32,435 --> 00:17:36,907
we need to take personal responsibility
for our health, for our family's health.

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00:17:36,932 --> 00:17:41,281
We can't wait until society
catches up to the science again

303
00:17:41,678 --> 00:17:45,332
because it's a matter of life and death.

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00:17:45,409 --> 00:17:47,452
A few years ago

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00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:51,662
Dr. Kim Williams became President
of the American College of Cardiology.

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00:17:51,687 --> 00:17:53,025
He was asked in an interview

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00:17:53,050 --> 00:17:56,155
why he follows the same diet he recommends
to all of his patients,

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00:17:56,180 --> 00:17:57,600
a strictly plant-based diet.

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00:17:57,625 --> 00:18:00,815
"I don't mind dying,"
Dr. Williams replied.

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"I just don't want it to be my own fault."

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(Laughter)

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Thank you.

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00:18:07,918 --> 00:18:11,825
(Applause)