2:01

14% were forced to undergo a

2:03

major amputation compared to zero

2:05

in the bone marrow group. Given

2:08

these remarkable benefits, the link between

2:10

higher numbers of endothelial progender cells

2:12

and lower risk of dying from

2:14

cardiovascular disease may indeed be causal.

2:18

Short of sticking a large bore needle

2:20

into your hip, how else can we

2:23

cultivate and release more endothelial progender cells

2:25

into our system? Smoking

2:28

cessation is one of

2:30

the most important and effective lifestyle changes

2:32

to increase the number and function of

2:34

active endothelial progender cells. Cutting

2:36

down isn't enough. There

2:38

are 20 cigarettes in a pack. If

2:40

you only smoke about one a day, wouldn't

2:43

you think you'd only have like 1 20th

2:45

the risk of cardiovascular disease compared to smoking

2:47

the whole pack? Based on a

2:49

meta-analysis of more than 100 studies, smoking

2:52

only about one cigarette a day caused

2:54

around 10 times the risk of

2:56

cardiovascular disease you'd expect by that logic

2:59

compared to smoking a pack a day.

3:02

There is no safe level

3:04

of smoking when it

3:06

comes to heart attack and stroke

3:09

risk. Even exposure to secondhand smoke

3:11

can deteriorate or circulate endothelial progender

3:13

cell count, so even just

3:15

being around smokers is risky. Randomized

3:19

control trials show exercise

3:21

training can actually boost

3:23

endothelial progender cell circulation.

3:26

In a study of middle-aged and

3:28

older sedentary men, for example, three

3:30

months of moderate aerobic exercise, mostly

3:32

walking with some participants starting to

3:34

jog a bit as their fitness

3:36

improved, led to a doubling of

3:38

endothelial progender cells in their bloodstream.

3:41

Regular aerobic exercise could be

3:43

considered a first-line strategy for

3:45

helping to prevent and treat

3:48

arterial aging. What

3:50

about diet? A

3:53

randomized control trial showed that

3:55

reducing saturated fat, mostly in the

3:57

form of butter, significantly elevated... endothelial

3:59

progender cell numbers, consistent with

4:01

a study on baboons showing

4:03

that even a few weeks of

4:06

a high- cholesterol, high-fat diet

4:08

could cause dramatic premature epithelial

4:10

cell senescence. Individual

4:12

foods that have been showed

4:14

to increase circulating endothelial progender

4:16

cells include berries, onions,

4:20

and green tea, and a diet

4:22

centered completely around whole plant foods,

4:24

not only showed a boost in

4:27

endothelial progenitors, but an improvement in

4:29

endothelial function, along with a drop

4:31

in LDL cholesterol. In

4:34

our next story, we look at

4:36

how vegetables, such as beets and

4:38

arugula, can improve athletic performance by

4:40

improving oxygen delivery and utilization. It's

4:43

great that we can improve athletic performance eating

4:45

a few beets, but so what if you

4:47

run 5% faster? It can

4:49

be a fun experiment to eat a can of

4:52

beets and maybe shave a minute off your 5K time, but

4:55

these are the people who

4:57

could really benefit from a more efficient

4:59

use of oxygen, those suffering from emphysema.

5:02

Yeah, young, healthy adults eating greens

5:04

and beets can swim, run, cycle

5:06

faster and farther, but what about

5:08

those who get out of breath

5:10

just walking up the stairs? Do

5:12

nitrate-rich vegetables work where it counts?

5:15

Yes, significantly extended time on the

5:17

treadmill after two shots of beet

5:19

juice. It's

5:21

great that beet juice can decrease blood

5:23

pressures in young, healthy adults, but what

5:25

about those who really need it, older

5:27

overweight subjects? Just one shot of beet

5:29

juice a day versus buried juice as

5:32

a control, and in a few weeks

5:34

a significant drop in blood pressure, but

5:36

within just a few days after stopping,

5:38

after three weeks of beating themselves up,

5:40

blood pressures went back up. So

5:43

we have to eat our vegetables and keep

5:45

eating our vegetables. Why

5:49

did it take until 2015 to

5:51

publish a study on lowering blood pressure in people

5:53

with high blood pressure? You'd think that'd be the

5:55

first group to try it on. Who's

5:58

going to fund it, though? Big B. beat? Blood

6:01

pressure medications rake in more than $10 billion a year.

6:05

You can't make billions

6:07

on beats. But

6:10

that's why we have charities like the British Heart

6:12

Foundation, which funded a study to give folks with

6:14

high blood pressure a cup of beet juice a

6:16

day for four weeks. After

6:18

all, high blood pressure may be the number

6:20

one risk factor for premature death in the world,

6:23

and 10 years would affect nearly

6:25

one in three adults on this planet. Put

6:28

them on beet juice and blood pressure is dropped

6:31

and kept dropping until it was stopped after a

6:33

month, with so many

6:35

people with high blood pressure, even despite

6:37

treatment, an additional strategy based on the

6:40

intake of nitrate-rich vegetables may prove to

6:42

be both cost-effective, affordable, and favorable for

6:44

a public health approach to hypertension. What

6:48

about those with peripheral artery disease? Tens

6:52

of millions with atherosclerotic clogs impairing

6:54

blood flow to their legs, which

6:56

can cause cramping pain in the

6:58

calves, cause claudication due to

7:00

lack of blood flow through the blocked arteries,

7:02

severely limiting one's ability even to just walk

7:04

around. But just drink

7:07

some beet juice and walk 18% longer. They

7:11

measure the actual oxygenation of their

7:13

blood within their calf muscle. The

7:16

nitric oxide from vegetable nitrates not

7:18

only improves oxygen efficiency, but oxygen

7:20

delivery by vasodilating blood vessels, opening

7:22

up arteries so there's more blood

7:24

flow. I'm surprised beet

7:27

juice companies aren't trying to position

7:29

themselves as veggie viagra. It could

7:31

certainly explain why those eating more

7:33

veggies have such improved sexual function,

7:36

though this study was just a snapshot

7:38

in time, so you can't tell which

7:41

came first. However, it seems more reasonable

7:43

that low from vegetable consumption contributes to

7:45

erectile dysfunction, rather than

7:47

the other way around. What

7:50

about the most important organ? The

7:53

brain. Poor cerebral

7:55

perfusion, lack of blood flow and oxygen

7:57

in the brain, is associated with caustic

7:59

acid. cognitive decline, and dementia. And

8:01

they show that the nitrate in

8:03

vegetables may be beneficial in treating

8:06

age-related cognitive decline. They showed

8:08

a direct effect of dietary nitrate

8:10

on cerebral blood flow within the

8:12

frontal lobe, the areas particularly compromised

8:14

by aging. This

8:17

is a critical brain area for

8:19

so-called executive function, basic task and

8:21

problem solving, important for day-to-day functioning.

8:24

The nitrite from nitrate has been

8:27

shown to not just increase

8:29

blood flow in certain areas of the body, but also acts

8:31

preferentially in low-oxygen conditions, allowing it to

8:33

increase blood flow precisely in the areas

8:36

where it's needed the most. And that's

8:38

what they found in the brain. Increase

8:41

blood flow to the at-risk areas of the

8:43

aging brain. And the

8:45

only side effects of beating your brain's

8:48

out? A little extra color

8:50

in your life. Do

8:53

legumes—beans, chickpeas, split peas,

8:55

and lentils— look

8:58

only to prevent disease, or can

9:00

they help treat and reverse it

9:02

as well? Here

9:04

are some answers. Legumes,

9:06

by which they mean all kinds of beans,

9:08

chickpeas, split peas, and lentils, are

9:10

an excellent source of many essential

9:12

nutrients— vitamins, minerals, fibers, antioxidants. And

9:15

not just an excellent source, perhaps

9:17

the single cheapest source in terms

9:20

of nutrition density per penny. The

9:23

four that really pull out from the

9:25

pack are pinto beans, lentils, milk beans,

9:27

and kidney beans. And

9:29

all that nutritional quality may have

9:32

beneficial effects on excess body weight,

9:34

insulin resistance, high cholesterol, inflammation, and

9:36

oxidative stress— all major cardiovascular risk

9:39

factors. So do men

9:41

and women who eat more beans tend to have

9:43

less heart disease? Yes, suggesting

9:45

that increasing legume intake may be an

9:47

important part of a dietary approach to

9:50

the primary prevention of coronary heart disease

9:52

in the general population, meaning prevention

9:55

of heart disease in the first place.

9:58

But maybe those eating more beans Bean

10:00

burritos are just eating less. Beef

10:03

burritos. They took that into

10:05

account, controlling for meat intake, fruits

10:07

and vegetables and smoking and exercise.

10:09

And still, the bean eaters appeared

10:11

to be protected. Note

10:14

the highest category here was eating legumes

10:16

four more times a week. And

10:19

my daily dozen, I recommend people eat legumes

10:21

three times a day. In

10:24

Costa Rica, they were able to find enough people

10:26

eating beans every day. And so, even

10:28

after controlling for many of the same things, like

10:30

intake of saturated fang cholesterol, one

10:33

bean serving a day was associated with a 38%

10:35

reduction in

10:37

the risk of heart attack. Yeah,

10:40

but do you actually get

10:42

to live longer too? Yes,

10:44

apparently so, in 8% lower

10:46

all-cause mortality, again, after

10:48

adjusting for other dietary factors. You

10:51

can't control everything, though. I mean, you

10:53

can't really prove cause and effect until

10:55

you put it to the test. Randomized,

10:58

controlled interventional trials have found

11:00

that dietary bean intake does

11:03

significantly reduce bad cholesterol levels,

11:06

dating back a half century to 1962, measure

11:10

cholesterol levels at baseline, and

11:12

then add beans to their diet, and

11:16

then remove beans from their diet. And

11:19

look, beans have a low glycemic

11:21

index, and saturated fat content, and

11:23

a high fiber potassium plant protein,

11:26

each of which independently confers blood

11:28

pressure-lowering effects. But whether

11:30

there's sufficient evidence to emphasize beans

11:32

alone to lower blood pressure is

11:34

unclear. Therefore, what we need is

11:37

a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled

11:40

feeding trials, and what they found is

11:42

that beans do indeed lower blood pressure,

11:44

no matter where you start it. OK,

11:48

so beans may be able to

11:50

prevent artery disease, but

11:52

what about reversing it? Can

11:55

the daily consumption of beans other

11:57

than soy reverse vascular impenetrable health?

11:59

due to peripheral artery disease. Peripheral

12:02

artery disease results from a decrease in

12:05

blood flow to the legs due to

12:07

a buildup of atherosclerotic plaque higher up.

12:10

Yeah, soybeans may help, but what

12:12

about other beans? So,

12:14

they had 26 individuals with peripheral

12:16

artery disease consumed once over a week

12:18

a day of a combination

12:21

of beans, blippies, lentils, and chickpeas for

12:23

eight weeks. Basically, how you diagnose and

12:25

follow the disease is with the

12:27

ankle brachial index, which is just the ratio

12:29

of blood pressure at your ankle compared to

12:31

your arm. Once it dips

12:33

below 0.9, that means you must have some

12:35

kind of clogs in blood flow to your

12:37

lower body. But eat some

12:40

beans, and you may get

12:42

a significant increase, enough to push four

12:44

of 26 participants up into the normal

12:46

range after just eight weeks eating

12:48

some beans. Now, there

12:51

was no control group, but people

12:53

tend to get worse, not

12:55

better. The researchers

12:57

conclude a legume-rich diet can

12:59

elicit major improvements in

13:02

arterial function. We

13:04

would love it if you could share with

13:06

us your stories about reinventing your health through

13:08

evidence-based nutrition. Go to nutritionfacts.org/testimonials,

13:11

where you may be able to share

13:13

it on social media to help inspire

13:15

others. To see

13:17

any graphs, charts, graphics, images, or

13:19

studies mentioned here, please go to

13:21

the Nutrition Facts Podcast landing page.

13:24

There you'll find all the detailed information you

13:26

need, plus links to all the sources we

13:28

cite for each of these topics. My

13:31

latest book, How Not to Age, is out now,

13:33

which premiered at number two on the New York

13:35

Times bestseller list. Check it

13:37

out at your local public library, and of

13:39

course all the proceeds I receive from the

13:42

sale of all my books goes directly to

13:44

charity. nutritionfacts.org is

13:46

itself a non-profit, science-based public service

13:48

where you can sign up for

13:50

free daily updates on the latest

13:52

in nutrition research, bite-sized

13:54

videos and articles. Everything on the website

13:56

is free. There are

13:59

no ads, no corporate spot. no

14:01

kickback strictly non-commercial, not selling anything.

14:04

I just put it up as a

14:06

public service, as a labor of love,

14:08

as a tribute to my grandmother, whose

14:10

own life was saved with evidence-based nutrition.