How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease

by Michael Greger

To become virtually heart-attack proof, you need to get your LDL cholesterol at least under 70 mg/dL.

“Dietary and Lifestyle Guidelines for the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease,” published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging, was: “Vegetables, legumes (beans, peas, and lentils), fruits, and whole grains should replace meats and dairy products as primary staples of the diet.”65

Each of us contains tens of billions of miles of DNA—enough for one hundred thousand round trips to the moon if you uncoiled each strand and placed them end to end.

The amount of vitamin C in a single orange can enhance iron absorption as much as three- to sixfold,

This concern arises out of studies that show that people who work in poultry slaughtering and processing plants have increased risk of dying from certain cancers.

The study found that those who slaughter chickens have about nine times the odds of both pancreatic cancer and liver cancer.88 To put this result in context, the most carefully studied risk factor for pancreatic cancer is cigarette smoking. But even if you smoked for fifty years, you’d have “only” doubled your odds of getting pancreatic cancer.

For example, tuberculosis appears to have been originally acquired through the domestication of goats7 but now infects nearly one-third of humanity.8 Meanwhile, measles9 and smallpox10 may have arisen from mutant cattle viruses. We domesticated pigs and got whooping cough, we domesticated chickens and got typhoid fever, and we domesticated ducks and got influenza.11 Leprosy may have come from water buffalo and the cold virus from horses.12 How often did wild horses have the opportunity to sneeze into humans’ faces until they were broken and bridled? Before then, the common cold was presumably common only to them.

In theory, though, cardamom-infused blueberry muffins may increase the number of circulating natural killer cells in the body, as well as boost their cancer-killing instincts.

Currently in the United States, diabetes causes about 50,000 cases of kidney failure, 75,000 lower extremity amputations, 650,000 cases of vision loss,4 and about 75,000 deaths every year.5

After sipping beet juice, cyclists were able to perform at the same level of intensity while consuming 19 percent less oxygen than the placebo group. Then, when they ramped up their bike resistance for an intense bout of what they called “severe cycling,” the time to exhaustion was extended from 9:43 minutes to 11:15 minutes. The beet-juice-drinking group exhibited greater endurance while using less oxygen. In short, the beet juice made the bikers’ bodies’ energy production significantly more efficient.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that about two teaspoons a day of chlorella boosted the activity of natural killer cells in participants’ bodies, which can naturally kill hepatitis C-infected cells.

broccoli sprouts

In fact, even simply smelling a common spice may improve your emotional state.

According to the published literature, the results of nearly all antidepressant trials were positive. In contrast, FDA analysis of trial data—including the unpublished studies—demonstrated that roughly half of the trials showed the drugs didn’t work after all. When all the data—published and unpublished—were combined, antidepressants failed to show a clinically significant advantage over placebo sugar pills.

Even worse, the FOIA documents revealed that the FDA knew that these drugs—such as Paxil and Prozac—didn’t work much better than placebo yet made an explicit decision to shield drug companies by keeping this information from the public and prescribing physicians.

antidepressants are currently prescribed to more than 8 percent of the population.77

Eating nicotine-rich vegetables, especially peppers, was associated with significantly lower risk of Parkinson’s disease.

Coffee for Preventing and Treating Parkinson’s Disease

caffeine has been shown to protect human nerve cells in a petri dish from being killed by a pesticide and other neurotoxins.

For example, side effects from medications given in hospitals kill an estimated 106,000 Americans every year.2 That statistic alone effectively makes medical care the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.

How ineffectual are some of the most common drugs in America? When it comes to cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood-thinning drugs, the chance of even high-risk patients benefiting from them is typically less than 5 percent over a period of five years.

Heart attacks are considered 96 percent avoidable in women who eat a wholesome diet and engage in other healthy lifestyle behaviors.

The healthiest diet is one that maximizes the intake of whole plant foods and minimizes the intake of animal-based foods and processed junk.

whole-food, plant-based nutrition.

Speaking of berries and eyesight, a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial of black currants found they can improve the symptoms of computer eye strain (known in doctor-speak as “video display terminal work-induced transient refractive alteration”).

A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized trial of boys with autism found that about two to three cruciferous vegetable servings’ worth6 of sulforaphane a day improves social interaction, abnormal behavior, and verbal communication within a matter of weeks.

Even just calling vegetables by different names can help. Elementary schools were able to double vegetable consumption simply by coming up with names that better appealed to the kids. Students ate twice the number of carrots if they were called “X-Ray Vision Carrots,” compared to when they were just carrots or generically called the “Food of the Day.”

For example, grown-ups reported “Traditional Cajun Red Beans and Rice” tasted better than just “Red Beans with Rice” … even though they were the exact same dish.

Which two did you choose? If one of your choices was brussels sprouts, cabbage, curly cabbage, or kale, and the other choice was garlic, green onions, or leek, you get a gold star! Of all the vegetables tested, those had the most cancer-preventing potential.

A 10 percent saltwater rinse has been found to work as well as full-strength vinegar.86 To make your own pesticide-reducing bath, add one part salt to nine parts water. Just make sure to rinse off all the salt before eating.

The researchers concluded that three weeks of pistachios “resulted in a significant improvement in erectile function … without any side effects.”41

This is not just a male issue. Women with higher cholesterol levels report significantly lower arousal, orgasm, lubrication, and sexual satisfaction.

Researchers tried the daily capsaicin experiment with cluster headache sufferers. Unlike the wimpy medical students who rated the nose burning as an eight or nine on the ten-point pain scale, those used to the violence of cluster headache attacks rated the pain caused by capsaicin at only a three or four. By day five, they too became desensitized to the pain of the capsaicin. What happened to their headaches? Those who rubbed capsaicin in the nostril on the side of the head where the headaches occurred cut the average number of attacks in half. In fact, half the patients were apparently cured—their cluster headaches were gone completely. All in all, 80 percent responded, which is at least equal to, if not better than, all the current available therapies.50

Ginger has been used for centuries for headaches, and so a group of Danish physicians advised one of their migraine patients to give it a go. At the first sign of a migraine coming on, the patient mixed a quarter teaspoon of powdered ginger in some water and drank it. Within thirty minutes, the migraine disappeared. And it worked every time for her, with no apparent side effects.

Ginger is now considered a nontoxic, broad-spectrum antiemetic (antivomiting agent) effective in countering nausea during motion sickness, pregnancy, chemotherapy, and radiation, and after surgery.

In 2010, an antioxidant analysis of three hundred different beverages was published, examining everything from Red Bull to red wine.99 And the winner is … hibiscus tea!

For adults under age sixty-five, the easiest way to get B12 is to take at least one 2,000 mcg supplement each week. If you take too much, you merely get expensive pee. Well, not all that expensive: A five-year supply of vitamin B12 can cost less than twenty dollars.10 If you’d rather get into the habit of taking it daily, the once-a-day dosing is 50 mcg.11 Note that these doses are specific to cyanocobalamin, the preferred supplemental form of vitamin B12, as there is insufficient evidence to support the efficacy of the other forms, like methylcobalamin.12