Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

Eat to Live 103

attacks, more strokes, and a higher cardiovascular death rate than

the dropouts.... For these people, a high-carbohydrate diet will in-

duce an overproduction of bad eicosanoids, thus greatly increasing

their risk of cardiovascular disease." Dr. Ornish has been popular

since his "Lifestyle Heart Trial" was published in the Lancet in 1991.

This study documented the reversal of coronary blockages in heart

disease patients eating vegetarian diets. Sears is wrong again — this

time, with deadly advice for the heart patient. There are at least sev-

enteen studies to date, including Ornish's follow-up study, that have

proved Sears wrong.^34 The patients who have continued the Ornish

program have improved their condition over time.

Even more ridiculous is his claim that Ornish's patients devel-

oped more insulin resistance because of their high-carbohydrate

diet, in spite of an average weight loss of twenty-four pounds. Prob-

ably every nutritional scientist and physician in America knows that

insulin levels and insulin resistance parallel body weight.^35 That is

basic Physiology 101.

Sears goes on to state that eicosanoids are the body's super hor-

mones that control the appearance of every disease, from heart dis-

ease and cancer to autoimmune illnesses and obesity. Furthermore,

to keep these eicosanoids in proper balance, you need a precise ratio

of protein to carbohydrate — three grams of protein to every four

of carbohydrate. There is no scientific evidence to back these bold

claims. There are no studies to suggest his assertions, and Sears has

never measured the eicosanoid levels of people on his diet.

In fact, we now have studies that look at insulin response and in-

sulin resistance and the ability to lose weight. In these studies, Sears's

views do not hold up to scientific scrutiny. When overweight indi-

viduals with varying degrees of insulin resistance and high insulin

levels were put on weight-loss diets, it was found in spite of a wide

discrepancy in insulin responses, there was no relationship between

insulin levels and the ability to lose weight.^36 Insulin levels, insulin

resistance, and the insulin response to meals did not hinder the abil-

ity to lose weight — not in the short run, not in the long run.^37 The

nutritional quality of the diet makes the difference in controlling ap-

petite, not choosing foods based on insulin response.

Sears makes dozens of other ridiculous claims that contradict the

scientific literature. Everything from athletes performing better on

high-fat diets to the effect of eating rice on heart attack rates in Japan

and China.