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Revision as of 22:07, 9 May 2006 by DHeller (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Dr. Dean Ornish is president and founder of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute in Sausalito, California, as well as Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Ornish is widely known for his lifestyle-driven approach to the control of coronary artery disease (CAD). In particular, Dr. Ornish and colleagues showed that meditation, a strictly vegetarian, low-fat diet, smoking cessation, and regular exercise could not only stop the progression of CAD, but could actually reverse its course. This result was demonstrated in a randomized controlled trial published in the Lancet in 1990. Patients assigned to such a regimen fared better than those subjected to standard invasive procedures, and their arteriosclerosis was somewhat reversed, as evidenced by decreased stenosis (narrowing) of the coronary arteries after one year of treatment.
This discovery was notable not only because it had seemed physiologically implausible, but because it suggested a cheaper and simpler weapon against cardiovascular disease than risky invasive procedures such as coronary artery bypass surgery.
External Links
http://www.webmd.com/content/pages/4/3080_453
References
- Ornish, D et al (1990). Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet Jul 21;336(8708):129-33.