Question of the Week Search

Question: Hello Exsalus Health & Wellness Center, as I continue to consider changing my eating habits, can you help me with the following questions:

1. Have there been many scientific studies of the benefits of a plant-based diet vs. animal-based diet?

2. Is it true that calcium deficiency does not exist?

3. How much calcium should we consume from our diet?

4. Yogurt promotes digestive health but it is a dairy product; is this a false claim?

5. What about flax seed oil?

6. How many fruits and veggies should be eaten per day?

7. When is a multivitamin necessary?

8. There are so many diet theories out there, how do we know which ones are the right ones or which ones we shouldn’t actually use?

9. How am I supposed to believe you over what we have always been told?

Sorry there are so many questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer: These are great questions and it is encouraging to see our readers challenge not only themselves but “experts” in the field to provide them with answers. So good for you! Although we will provide you with some brief answers to your questions, we encourage you to read the research and come to your own conclusions. We do not want our patients to follow us blindly; rather we want you to learn the truth for yourself by providing you with as much evidence as we can. In this manner, you become an informed advocate in your own health. Some books for you to look into include Dr. John McDougall’s The McDougall Program or The McDougall Plan and T. Colin Campbell’s The China Study. In the meantime, we hope this helps to get you started! Should you have any further questions or wish to come in for a more complete evaluation, please let us know. Good luck and happy reading!

1.Yes there are lots of scientific studies supporting the benefits of a plant-based diet. There are multiple smaller studies as well as large epidemiological studies like the China Study. Check out www.drmcdougall.com as well as sites like pub-med for more information.

2.Yes it is true that dietary calcium deficiency does NOT exist – at least there has never been a record of a human with dietary calcium deficiency to date.

3.You do not need to worry about calcium consumption as long as you eat lots of healthy plant foods and avoid animal foods. If you are consuming the appropriate amount of calories you need per day from a healthy plant food diet, you will be getting all of the minerals (including calcium) that you need.

4.The purported benefits of yogurt are from the bacteria in it, which we can get and maintain through a plant-based diet (naturally promotes these beneficial flora) without the damaging package of animal foods (which are known to contribute to many chronic diseases including high cholesterol, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and osteoporosis).

5.You get all of the essential fatty acids you need by consuming plants (that is, as long as you are eating the appropriate amount of calories you need per day). You do not need to add flax seeds (but they can be a healthy addition if desired)…and should never add flax seed oil. The other important factor is to eliminate other oils so that the main fats you are getting are the essential ones that are naturally abundant in the plant foods you are eating.

6.You should eat whole grains, vegetables, legumes and fruits whenever you are hungry…no need to count servings.

7.The only vitamin you should add is B12…no other vitamins are necessary as long as you are eating a healthy plant based diet. Also, get out in the sun a few times a week to get your vitamin D (which is really more of a sunlight-dependent hormone than a vitamin)

8.There are lots of diet theories out there so read up on all of them and see what makes sense. Then try living the low-fat, starch based diet we recommend and you will see how great you feel…that should be reason enough. However, if you look at all of the evidence critically, then you will also see that a low-fat, starch based (whole grain) diet is the key to health and longevity.

9.You shouldn’t believe us; you should take our information and challenge it – always reading the evidence for yourself. We are confident that once you do so, you will naturally switch over to a low fat plant based diet because that is what makes sense…with the added benefit that it tastes great too!

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