Is this guy credible? Read his CV below and compare it to your present doctor.
His claims
A groundbreaking program backed by the irrefutable results from Dr. Esselstyn’s 20-year study proves changes in diet and nutrition can actually cure heart disease.
Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States for men and women. But, as Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., a former internationally known surgeon, researcher and clinician at the Cleveland Clinic, explains in this book it can be prevented, reversed, and even abolished. Dr. Esselstyn argues that conventional cardiology has failed patients by developing treatments that focus only on the symptoms of heart disease, not the cause.
Based on the groundbreaking results of his 20-year nutritional study—the longest study of its kind ever conducted—this book explains, with irrefutable scientific evidence, how we can end the heart disease epidemic in this country forever by changing what we eat.
Here, Dr. Esselstyn convincingly argues that a plant-based, oil-free diet can not only prevent and stop the progression of heart disease but also reverse its effects.
The proof is in the results. The patients in Dr. Esselstyn’s initial study came to him with advanced coronary artery disease. Despite the aggressive treatment they received, among them bypasses and angioplasties, 5 of the original group were told by their cardiologists they had less than a year to live. Within months on Dr. Esselstyn’s program, their cholesterol levels, angina symptoms, and blood flow improved dramatically. Twelve years later, 17 compliant patients had no further cardiac events. Adherent patients survived beyond twenty years free of symptoms.
*Drop in cholesterol levels:*After 5 years on Dr. Esselstyn’s plant-based diet, the average total cholesterol levels of his research group dropped from 246 milligrams per deciliter to 137 mg/dL (Above 240 mg/dL is considered “high risk,” below 150 mg/dL is the total cholesterol level seen in cultures where heart disease is essentially nonexistent.) This is the most profound drop in cholesterol ever documented in the medical literature in a study of this type.
*Cardiac events:*The 17 patients in the study had 49 cardiac events in the years leading up to the study and had undergone aggressive treatment procedures. Several had multiple bypass operations. After beginning the eating plan, there were no more cardiac events in the group within a 12-year period.
*Angiogram evidence:* Angiograms taken of the participants in the study show a widening of the coronary arteries, and thus a reversal of the disease.
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., received his B.A. from Yale University and his M.D. from Western Reserve University. In 1956, pulling the No. 6 oar as a member of the victorious United States rowing team, he was awarded a gold medal at the Olympic Games. He was trained as a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and at St. George’s Hospital in London. In 1968, as an Army surgeon in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Dr. Esselstyn has been associated with the Cleveland Clinic since 1968. During that time, he has served as President of the Staff and as a member of the Board of Governors. He chaired the Clinic’s Breast Cancer Task Force and headed its Section of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery. He is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology.
In 1991, Dr. Esselstyn served as President of the American Association of Endocrine Surgeons, That same year he organized the first National Conference on the Elimination of Coronary Artery Disease, which was held in Tucson, Arizona. In 1997, he chaired a follow-up conference, the Summit on Cholesterol and Coronary Disease, which brought together more than 500 physicians and health-care workers in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. In April, 2005, Dr. Esselstyn became the first recipient of the Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Cleveland Clinic Alumni Association in 2009. In September 2010, he received the Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame Award. Dr. Esselstyn received the 2013 Deerfield Academy Alumni Association Heritage Award In Recognition of Outstanding Achievement & Service, and the 2013 Yale University George H.W. Bush ’48 Lifetime of Leadership Award. Dr. Esselstyn has also received the 2015 Plantrician Project Luminary Award, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award, and the American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award.
His scientific publications number over 150, “The Best Doctors in America” 1994-1995 published by Woodward and White cites Dr. Esselstyn’s surgical expertise in the categories of endocrine and breast disease. In 1995 he published his bench mark long-term nutritional research arresting and reversing coronary artery disease in severely ill patients. That same study was updated at 12 years and reviewed beyond twenty years in his book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease, making it one of the longest longitudinal studies of its type. In July of 2014 he reported the experience of 198 participants seriously ill with cardiovascular disease. During 3.7 years of follow up of the 89% adherent to the program, 99.4% avoided further major cardiac events.
Dr. Esselstyn and his wife, Ann Crile Esselstyn, have followed a plant-based diet since 1984. Dr. Esselstyn presently directs the cardiovascular prevention and reversal program at The Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.
Curriculum Vitae
Biography | Curriculum Vitae | Publications
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD, F.A.C.S.
Born New York City, New York, December 12, 1933
A.B. Yale University, 1956 MD, Western Reserve University School of
Medicine, 1961
Intern, Cleveland Clinic Hospital, 1961-1962
Resident, General Surgery, Cleveland Clinic Hospital, 1962-1966
Senior Registrar with Professor Bryan Brooke, St. George Hospital,
London, England, March 1965 – September 1965
Captain United States Medical Corps, 1966-1968
United States Army Hospital, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, 1966-1967
Third Field Hospital, Saigon, Vietnam, 1967-1968
Second Surgical Hospital Chu Lai, Vietnam, 1968
Staff, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Department of General Surgery,
1968 – 2006 Former Head, Section of Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery,
Former Chairman Breast Cancer Task Force
Fellow in the American College of Cardiology
Licenses and Certificates
Michigan Basic Science Certificate
Certificate of the National Board of Medical Examiners
Ohio State License
New York State License
Society Memberships
Diplomate, American Board of Surgery Fellow
American College of Surgeons
American Medical Association
Board of Directors, Rip Van Winkle Foundation
Cleveland Surgical Association
Cleveland Academy of Medicine
Collegium Internationale Chirugiae Digestive
Eastern Surgical Society
International Association of Endocrine Surgeons
Pan Pacific surgical Association
Societe Internationale De Chirurgiae
Society of Surgical Oncology
Society of Head and Neck Surgeons
Surgeons Travcl Club
Society of Head and Neck Surgeons
Honors
Member of the 1956 United States Olympic Team, awarded Gold Medal in 8-Oared Rowing Event
President – Nu Sigma Nu Medical Fraternity, 1960 .
Bronze Star, Vietnam Campaign, May 1968
President – Cleveland Surgical Society, 1983
President – Medical Staff Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 1977-78
Member of the Board of Trustees, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 1981-1983
Member of Board of Governors, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, 1979-1984
President – Rupert Turnbull Society, 1982-1983
President – Cleveland Clinic Surgical Society, 1984
Member of the Board of Trustees of the Medical Alumni Association of Case Western Reserve University, 1981-1984
Kiphuth Fellow Award, Yale University, 1982
Vice President – American Association of Endocrine Surgeons – 1988-89
President-elect – American Association of Endocrine Surgeons – 1989-90
Chairman, Constitution By-Laws Committee – Society of Surgical Oncology 1989-1990
Chairman, Breast Cancer Task Force – Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Chairman, Membership Committee – Surgeons’ Travel Club
President, American Association of Endocrine Surgeons – 1990-91
Chairman and Program Director – 1st National Conference on the Elimination of Coronary Artery Disease – Tucson, Arizona – October, 1991.
Listed in Best Doctors in America 1994-95 – Endocrine Surgery, Pg. 156: Surgical Oncology, Breast Cancer, Pg. 857.
Chairman and Program Director – Summit on Cholesterol & Coronary Disease – 2nd National Conference on Lipids in the Elimination and Prevention of Coronary Artery Disease – Orlando, Florida – September 4-5, 1997
Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Nutrition Action Healthletter (CSPI – Center for Science in the Public Interest) 1997.
First Recipient of the Benjamin Spock Award for Compassion in Medicine 2005
Cleveland Heart Lab 2012 Heart Award for lifelong dedication to the prevention of chronic disease
2013 Deerfield Academy Alumni Association Heritage Award In Recognition of Outstanding Achievement & Service
2013 Yale University GEORGE H.W. BUSH ’48 LIFETIME OF LEADERSHIP AWARD
The 2015 Plantrician Project Luminary Award
American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award