In Episode 90 I sit down with former President of the American College of Cardiology Dr Kim Williams to discuss the role that our diet plays in the preventing, suspending and reversing cardiovascular disease. If you want to know what foods are causing your arteries to 'clog' and how to avoid this then I highly recommend listening to this exchange. Kim is an absolute wealth of knowledge and unlike so much of what you see on social media these days, his stance is based on the totality of evidence - not anecdotes and not theories but hard evidence from all different levels of scientific investigation.

The simple fact is that many of us see heart attacks and strokes as 'inevitable' and a 'normal' part of getting old but this couldn't be further from the truth. Many populations who choose to eat differently to us are significantly less likely to develop cardiovascular disease. And it's not just observational science that points to a plant exclusive or predominant diet as the ultimate way to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, with several controlled trials reaching the same conclusion. Some of which we talk about in this episode.

Born and trained in Chicago, Dr Williams was a professional level tennis player and coach before choosing rather to pursue a career in cardiology. Since 2013, he has headed up the cardiology department of Rush University Medical Center - where many of his colleagues have also found their way to adopting a plant-based diet.

Dr Williams has served on numerous committees and boards at the United States national level, including - but certainly not limited to - the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology, the American Heart Association, and the American Medical Association. Among other presidencies throughout his distinguished career, Dr Williams was the 2016 President of American College of Cardiology.

Kim is the inaugural Editor in Chief of the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention (IJDRP). This new journal has been created to document the science of nutrition and lifestyle to prevent, suspend and reverse disease.

Kim is also on the 'International ​Advisory Council​' for Doctors For Nutrition - a wonderful Australian organisation dedicated to helping equip healthcare practitioners, institutions and the public with evidence-based information and education on optimum human nutrition. As mentioned during this episode if you are from Adelaide or can get to Adelaide on Feb 2nd 2020 to listen to Dr Kim Williams, along with a host of other speakers, at the Doctors for Nutrition Symposium I highly recommend it - you can get tickets here.

Specifically we cover:

• The prevalence of cardiovascular disease
• Kim's path to Medicine
• Nutrition training during Medical School
• Being elected President of the American College of Cardiology
• The difference between the ACC/AHA guidelines and the USDA dietary guidelines
• The role of industry in effecting guidelines
• How he explains to patients the importance of changing their diet
• What dietary components increase your risk of developing atherosclerosis (narrowing of the artery with plaque build up)
• Why LDL cholesterol is an independent risk factor
• What a heart healthy diet looks like
• Changes he would like to see in the 2020 USDA dietary guidelines
• Government policy changes he would like to see
• The types of foods he likes to eat in his own diet
• and much much more

RESOURCES:

1 - Jupiter study - we spoke about this when discussing LDL cholesterol and inflammation
2 - A second study to look at on LDL cholesterol as an independent risk factor
3 - The ACC/AHA 2019 guidelines - The Predimed Trial we spoke about is discussed within these guidelines. Pay special attention to the PRO-Vegetarian aspect of that paragraph. Essentially, those within the Mediterranean Diet group who ate less meat, dairy and eggs did even better and...