Dr. Dodge: Passion for Health

Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn is not widely known to the general public, but he is likely to become better known in the future. He was a top surgeon at the renowned Cleveland Clinic for many years, and was also President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons in 1991. However, it is his research in preventing heart disease that is making him both controversial and famous. With over 150 scientific articles to his credit, he has recently written a book for the public, entitled, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease.

Graduating from Yale University in 1956, Dr. Esselstyn was best known then for the Olympic gold medal he won that year as a member of the victorious United States rowing team. He went on to earn his medical degree from Western Reserve University, and then obtained his surgical training at the Cleveland Clinic and St. George’s Hospital in London. He was named as one of the “Best Doctors in America” in 1994-95.

By the 1980s, Dr. Esselstyn was convinced that surgery and pills were not an effective answer for the heart disease epidemic afflicting the Western world. He began his study with patients who came to him with advanced heart disease, most of whom had already had angioplasties and/or bypass surgery, and been told by their cardiologists that they had less than a year to live. 

He put them on a nutritional treatment program in which he personally participated. The results were dramatic. The seventeen patients who stayed on his diet had a drop in their cholesterol levels from an average of 246 mg/dL to 137 mg/dL, and they became free of symptoms. By the time of their twenty-year follow-ups, they had experienced no more cardiac events, even though they had forty-nine such events before entering the study.

Most persuasive of all, in terms of supportive evidence, is the fact that angiograms of study participants provided visible evidence of the reversal of their heart disease. Based on all this evidence, Dr. Esselstyn says we can end the heart disease epidemic in this country simply by changing what we eat. He says that our standard American diet is a major factor in the heart disease far too many Americans develop. It is toxic to the heart.  

Dr. Esselstyn has become a bit controversial. Nobody has contradicted his research results, but many cardiologists say that patients simply will not stay on the kind of plant-based diet that he recommends. However, his devotees say that once their taste buds adjust to the change, they enjoy his recommended diet very much. Many tasty and well tested recipes, developed by Dr. Esselstyn and his wife, can be found in his book.

In my opinion, Dr. Esselstyn is one of a growing group of far-sighted physicians who are modeling a new paradigm of health for America that is much superior to present health standards. When Americans wake up to the sheer folly of indulging in poor eating habits at the cost of their health, they will whole-heartedly adopt healthier eating habits.

Making even simple lifestyle changes can be hard, but help is available. Mike Kinnaird struggled with his own serious health issues for thirteen years. Out of his experience, he has written a book, entitled The Habit Guide, that is being published on the Internet. His advice is excellent. Anyone can find a link to his book on my Passion for Health website.