We Already Know How to Eliminate Heart Disease

Around the globe, nearly 7 million people die of coronary heart disease each year. And that number keeps going up despite continuing advancements in surgery, diagnostic techniques, and pharmaceutical interventions. 

Recently, Google’s Life Sciences division, together with the American Heart Association, announced that it is dropping a funding bomb into the heart disease battle, with the stated goal of it curing it once and for all.

And how big is the explosion? A whopping $50 million, all of which will go to one team of scientists in the hopes that they can come up with a cure. This is meant to be a game changing investment that will propel research rapidly and eliminate a leading killer.

But Google is wasting its money.

Why? Because we already know how to cure this disease. We just don’t apply what we know. 

The research is consistent and voluminous. Coronary heart disease can be prevented and reversed – yes reversed – with a straightforward lifestyle approach. In fact, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that complete elimination of elevated cholesterol levels, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and smoking would lead to a 50% reduction in deaths due to heart disease in adults aged 45 to 79. Given that heart disease takes over 600,000 lives per year, that’s a pretty big impact.

Step One Foods has added further clinical evidence of the impact and power of food. In our clinical trial, participants saw an average LDL decrease of 9% in just 30 days. Evidence shows that a 1 mg/dL (roughly 1%) decrease in bad cholesterol reduces total mortality by 1%(1). That means that using Step One Foods approach, we could prevent 159 deaths every day!

Have you ever heard of Occam’s Razor? It’s a line of reasoning that says the simplest solution is usually the right one. You may have heard the notion discussed in a crime drama, where the plot twists and turns, but eventually ends up back at the most obvious answer.

When it comes to heart disease, let’s take a step back and evaluate the situation using the lens of Occam’s Razor. 

Cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity are all food related. The answer suddenly becomes obvious, doesn’t it. Change what you eat and you won’t die. It may not sound as serious or exciting or as sexy as epigenetics or pharmacodynamics. But — it works.

There’s simply no amount of incremental scientific discovery Google can fund that can eclipse what we can already do today.

The challenge isn’t finding the answer, the real challenge is eating right in today’s world. We’re on the run. Convenience takes precedence. 

That’s why Step One is here. Because we know the food part is hard. We are your starting point and your compass. Use us to begin your nutrition transformation and come back to us if you need a reboot or a credible alternative to convenience foods. Health is a journey with tremendous rewards.

Like saving your life.

(1) O’Keefe JH, Carter MD, Lavie CJ. "Primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases..." Mayo Clin Proc 2009