Reversal of Graves’ Disease with a Whole Foods Plant Based Diet: A Case Report

The benefits of a whole-food, plant-based diet (WFPBD) include, but are not limited to, improvement of cardiovascular health, decreased inflammation, as well as enhanced endocrine system function. We present the case of a 51-year-old pre-diabetic female with a 22-year history of Graves’ disease who reversed her conditions following the ini- tial 28-week WFPBD period. In this time, she was able to reduce her thyroid stimu- lating immunoglobulin (TSI) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels and discontinue methimazole and cetirizine intake. It was also found that maintaining vitamin D levels are beneficial for promoting a more balanced immune response to help lower thyroid antibodies.

Assessment of the Low Referral Rate of Cardiologists to Dietitians/Nutritionists

Background: Dietary factors are a leading contributor to cardiovascular disease. Cardiologists are ideally positioned to initiate dietary discussions with patients and to make appropriate referrals to dietitians/nutritionists, yet the frequency of such referrals is unknown. Methods: A national survey was distributed to cardiologists to assess the frequency of their referrals to dietitians/nutritionists, their assessment of the efficacy of such referrals, and the perceived barriers to patient implementation of dietary changes following referral to dietitians/nutritionists. Results: A total of 123 cardiologists responded to the survey. The majority of respondents (71%) reported that they referred 10% or fewer of their patients to dietitians/nutritionists. Cardiologists who participated in a nutrition-focused continuing medical education activity were nearly twice as likely to refer patients to a dietitian/nutritionist as those who did not. Thirty-two percent of cardiologists believed that 25% or more of their referred patients made significant gains in achieving dietary goals. Most cardiologists (63%) attributed the primary challenge to achieving dietary goals to “the patient’s lack of interest and motivation in making dietary changes” while 6% believed the lack of desired results were related to the quality of the counseling provided. Overall, 59% of cardiologists endorsed the belief that dietary interventions can improve outcomes to an equal or greater degree than pharmacologic therapy Conclusion: Cardiologists reported making few referrals to dietitians/nutritionists; however, those who received continuing education in nutrition were significantly more likely to make a referral than those who did not receive nutrition education. The efficacy of referrals to dietitians/nutritionists was considered to be limited, which the majority of cardiologists attributed to a lack of patient interest and motivation—a belief that is not aligned with prior surveys of patient preferences.

Demographic, Lifestyle, and Dietary Factors Associated with Red Meat Consumption Among A Cross-Section of New York City Residents

Introduction: Red meat reduction policies have become the focus of public policy in New York City (NYC). To inform on who might be impacted the most by these policies we sought to identify factors associated with red meat consumption among NYC residents.Methods: We studied non-institutionalized adults in the cross-sectional 2013-2014 NYC Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The outcome was self-reported weekly red meat consumption. We used multivariable linear regression to assess the association of red meat consumption with age, gender, race/ethnicity, US nativity, education, marital status, percentage of ZIP-code in poverty, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, restaurant meals, and dietary components (dark-green vegetables, other vegetables, fresh fruit, poultry, fish/shellfish, sugar-sweetened soda (SSS), and sugar-sweetened fruit drink (SSFD)).Results: Among 1,495 subjects, higher frequency of red meat consumption was associated (-coefficient; p-value) with younger age (-0.08; p=.03), male gender (0.47; p<.001), and greater weekly consumption of alcohol (0.08; p<.001), poultry (0.16; p<.001), fish/shellfish (0.15; p=.01), SSS (0.14; p<.001), and SSFD (0.06; p=.005). Red meat consumption was also associated with race/ethnicity (p=.002), wherein Asian race/ethnicity had highest consumption and ZIP-code percent in poverty (p=.003) wherein those in ZIP-codes with ≥30% in poverty consumed the least red meat.Conclusion: Demographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors were associated with red meat consumption frequency in NYC. Public health efforts in NYC should consider these associations and differences from associations in national data when designing and evaluating outcomes from programs targeting reducing red meat consumption in NYC.

Water Fasting for Obesity: Is It Worth the Weight

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A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Trends in Vegan-Related Research

This study is the first bibliometric analysis of vegan-related research. This article aims to identify and organize fundamental and influential works across several decades in order to gain insight into global trends in vegan-related research. We searched the Scopus database and included all relevant articles published from 1960 (inception) to 2020. We limited our search to English language articles containing the terms “vegan,” “vegans,” or “veganism” in the title or abstract. We included all types of articles that were published in journals. We conducted a bibliometric analysis with the open-source R programming software-based Bibliometrix package. There were a total of 1440 relevant articles published in 664 journals over a span of 60 years. The first article was published in 1962. The average publication rate was 9.68 articles per year. The top journal was Nutrients with total publication of 85 (5.9%) articles and 924 total citations. The United States was the leading country with 471 articles and the University of Oxford was the most prolific institution with 59 articles. There was a total of 4586 authors with an average of 28 citations per article. McCarty from the United States was the leading author. The keyword “vegan” was the most used term with 411 occurrences, widely published in Nutrients by the United States authors. We conclude that the United States is the leading country in the field of vegan-related research and, if the trajectory we noted continues, the global trend in vegan-related research is likely to continue surging.

Marketing Cardiovascular Mortality? Healthy vs. Unhealthy Food in Television Advertising

Background:Cardiovascular disease has been the leading killer of Americans since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918. During the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, social distancing and stay-at-home requests, there has been increased television (TV) engagement, and marketing has become more impactful in modifying consumer behaviors. Objective: We evaluated the healthfulness of food marketing, based on commercials most frequently aired on American primetime networks during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Methods:We reviewed a total of 104 TV commercials, 89 chosen randomly during TV watching and 14 targeted to enrich the sample with the leading quick service restaurants (“fast-food chains”). The commercials fell into 4 categories: 1) fast-food chains, 2) brand-recognized individual items, 3) grocery chains, and 4) home-delivery meals. The food items displayed in each commercial were recorded and scored based on the previously validated healthful versus unhealthful nutrition scoring system, assigning either positive or negative values for each food item in the commercial. Results:We found that 58% of the commercials advertised fast-food chains (mean score = -3.1, i.e., 3.1 more unhealthy than healthy items per commercial), while 27% were brand-recognized individual items (-0.82), 9% were grocery chains (-0.4), and 6% were for home-delivery meals (0.83); each was less unhealthy than fast-food (p< 0.0001). Conclusions:Commercial TV in the US routinely promotes the consumption of foods that are known to be unhealthy, particularly those underpinning cardiovascular disease and its risk factors. Regulation and/or legislation to curtail the frequency and/or content of these commercials, and consider a ban on such advertising to children, similar to that previously employed in Canada and the European Union.

Disease Prevention through Lifestyle: A Case of the Copper to Zinc Ratio and Insulin Sensitivity

Both type 2 diabetes mellitus and a high ratio of copper to zinc are independently associated with comorbidities involving multiple organs. Separately, patients with poor insulin sensitivity are often reported as having high copper and low zinc. This article reports the case of a 46-year-old male patient interested in reversing his insulin resistance and high copper to zinc ratio, therefore reducing his long-term risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Over a period of 16 weeks, through lifestyle changes and controlling for copper in the patient’s food and water supply, the patient’s copper to zinc ratio improved from 1.91 to a healthy level of 0.55 and his HOMA-IR score improved from 2.0 to a nondiabetic level of 1.2.