When Will The American Heart Association Come Clean?

A Harvard research paper reveals that we’d be better off getting most of our dietary protein from plants rather than meat. A recent CNN article contains this quote from Kim Robien, associate professor of exercise and nutrition science at George Washington University’s Milken Institute of Public Health:

“The findings confirm what we have been observing from studies using different research approaches. People who consume their dietary protein primarily from plant foods would be expected to be better able to maintain a healthy weight and have lower risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular.”

Although the researchers focused on protein intake, they understand that the detrimental effects from meat may be the result of other components besides or in addition to protein.

This study can now be added  to the growing amount of research that points to health-promoting properties in whole plant foods, and disease promoting properties in animal foods.

In 1988, landmark research conducted by Harvard’s Frank Sacks showed that strict vegetarians have lower blood pressures than the general population and lacto-ovo vegetarians (those that eat milk and eggs). However, the American Heart Association (AHA) does not recommend meat-free diets, it recommends a low meat DASH diet. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.

You may think that the AHA is unaware of the research conducted by Frank Sacks – but you’d be incorrect. The chair of the design committee that came up with the DASH diet was none other than Frank Sacks. The diet design goals were to create patterns that would have the blood pressure-lowering benefits of a vegetarian diet, yet contain enough animal products that make it palatable to non-vegetarians. The committee didn’t think Americans could handle the truth.

This is one of the reasons people are hesitant to accept a whole food pant based diet to protect against heart disease, our number one killer. They figure that if it is the best diet to prevent and treat heart disease, it would be the diet recommended by the AHA.

Until the AHA begins to promote the ideal diet for heart health, the DASH diet is the best they can offer.

Why settle for less than ideal? You deserve better.