April 19, 2021
Interviewer: One of your most famous quotes is: “There are two kinds of cardiologists: vegans and those who haven’t read the data.” Although it was originally a joke, it shows that you trust the evidence supporting the benefits of a vegan diet. What do you envision for the potential of vegan diets to significantly prevent the leading causes of death in the United States—such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes?
Dr. Williams: The medical literature is replete with data indicating the dangers of eating animal products. Plant-based diets are associated with lower rates of obesity and diabetes, high quality of life and longer life-expectancy, as well as less hypertension, dyslipidemia, peripheral artery disease, coronary disease, myocardial infarction, erectile dysfunction, heart failure, stroke and death. One series of articles I like to quote has been published in JAMA (2016, 2019, and 2020), indicating the increased mortality with consumption of animal protein instead of vegetable protein. Same title (“Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality”), different long-term cohorts, two from the US, one from Japan, but same results. Replacing even 3% of the animal protein with vegetable protein reduces cardiovascular, cancer, and all-cause mortality 1-3 .
Read more here: http://www.hhpronline.org/articles/2021/4/19/plant-based-prevention-of-disease-a-conversation-with-dr-kim-a-williams-sr