Lifestyle Changes Can Remove Plaques in Your Arteries
Heart disease in the form of coronary artery disease (formation of atherosclerotic plaques) is the number one cause of death in the U.S. We now know that lifestyle changes, including diet, smoking cessation, stress management and exercise, can decrease the size of atherosclerotic plaques. They can also help to stabilize them so that they are less likely to break off and block blood flow, decreasing your risk of a heart attack.
The notion of plaque reduction, known medically as regression of atherosclerosis, arose from a fortuitous observation during World War II. Norwegian scientists noticed that the scarcity of food — particularly the scarcity of high-fat foods like milk, cream, butter and cheese — was associated with a decreased risk of death from heart disease. This suggested the possibility that dietary changes alone could induce plaque regression.
But evidence that there could be reversal of coronary artery disease in living patients would not come for another 40 years. In 1987, a study of diet and cholesterol-lowering drugs proved for the first time that regression was possible in humans. Three years later, the groundbreaking Lifestyle Heart Trial extended these findings by demonstrating that lifestyle changes alone, without cholesterol-lowering medications, could bring about regression, even in severely atherosclerotic arteries.
Adhering to the required lifestyle changes, however, appear to be challenging. The diet was a whole food, plant based diet that restricted fat to no more than 10 percent of total calories. In addition, the subjects had to quit smoking, perform regular aerobic exercise and participate in group therapy stress reduction sessions.
The Lifestyle Heart Trial was very small, involving only 28 men, but it's findings were soon confirmed by larger studies, including a 2015 meta-analysis that combined data from all previously published trials and assessed the value of lifestyle modifications on more than 2,000 arterial plaques. The data has provided conclusive proof that intensive lifestyle modifications, can reverse heart disease.