THINK LEAN

Plant-heavy diet could help heart

Can coronary artery disease be stopped, or even reversed?

Cleveland physician Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. thinks so, and he has conducted a 12-year study that touts a plant-based diet, coupled with cholesterol-lowering medication.

Dr. Esselstyn studied 18 patients who followed his diet and took the medication. The study subjects had collectively experienced 49 coronary events in the eight years prior to going on his eating plan. These events included everything from heart attacks to worsening stress-test results.

Only one subject, a man who had strayed from the diet and needed bypass surgery, had a new problem during the study. All those who followed the regimen, plus took cholesterol-lowering medication, he said, met the study goal of a cholesterol level no higher than 150, and an LDL cholesterol of no higher than 80.

Now for the reality check: This is no easy road.

Participants stayed on strict diets of no more than 10 percent fat. For an idea of how low that is, consider that the American Dietetic Association estimates that the average American diet is 34 percent to 38 percent fat.

Dr. Esselstyn's diet allows for grains, including cereals, breads and pastas; beans and lentils; fruits; vegetables and nuts. But no meat, fish, poultry, oils or dairy foods. No white rice and only whole-grain bread.

Dr. Esselstyn Jr., retired in 2000 as a general surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. His peer-reviewed study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology in 1999 and updated in 2001 in Preventive Cardiology. He is working on a book, while continuing to consult heart patients on nutrition.

TV TONIGHT

Ratings slayer places stake in series

- It's the series finale for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tuesday at 8 on WBEK-TV (Channel 16) as Buffy, her gang and Angel face off against The First.

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Contact Lifestyles Editor Erica C. Cline at: 828-2946 or ecline@augustachronicle.com