Page 88 - Time Special Edition Alternative Medicine (January 2020)

BROCCOLI
This vegetable is loaded with glucosino lates,
which convert to compounds that can slow
breast-cancer cells from growing in the lab.

sugar and salt that included lean protein and fresh meditation and strengthened their social connec-
fruits and vegetables with people assigned to take tions. In a series of studies, he found that most fol-
metformin to lower blood sugar. Among people at lowers lowered their blood sugar, blood pressure
high risk of developing diabetes, those taking met- and cholesterol levels and also reversed some of
formin lowered their risk of actually getting diabe- the blockages in their heart arteries, reducing their
tes by 31% compared with those taking a placebo, episodes of angina.
while those who modified their diet and exercised In recent years, other studies have shown similar

regularly lowered their risk by 58% compared with benefits from adopting healthy eating patterns like
those who didn’t change their behaviors, a near dou- the Mediterranean diet—which is high in good fats
bling in risk reduction. like olive oil and omega-3s, nuts, fruits and vegeta-
Studies showing that food could treat disease as bles—in preventing repeat events for people who
well soon followed. In 2010, Medicare reimbursed have had a heart attack. “It’s clear that people who
the first lifestyle-based program for treating heart are coached on how to eat a Mediterranean diet high
disease, based on decades of work by University of in nuts or olive oil get more benefit than we’ve found

California, San Francisco, heart expert Dean Or- in similarly conducted trials of statins [to lower cho-
nish. Under his plan, people who had had heart at- lesterol],” says Rimm. Researchers found similar
tacks switched to a low-fat diet, exercised regularly, benefits for people who have not yet had a heart at-
stopped smoking, lowered their stress levels with tack but were at higher risk of having one.

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