Forks Over Knives and Healthy Longevity: A Missed Opportunity for the Cholesterol Skeptics

This is the first part of a series of posts that addresses the science regarding plant based diets and the documentary Forks Over Knives and the very serious inaccuracies and omissions that compromise the critiques authored by the cholesterol skeptics, in particular Denise Minger. 


Food Shortages, Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality in the World Wars


In Forks Over Knives, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn described the classical findings from a paper authored by Strom and Jensen, who observed that in Norway between 1938 and 1948 there was a strong relationship between cardiovascular mortality and changes in intake of fat in the form of butter, milk, cheese and eggs, with the changes in mortality lagging behind dietary changes by approximately one year (Fig. 1).1 Denise Minger not only ignored these findings in her critique despite citing the mortality data from the same paper, but instead claimed in regards to a paper on rationing in Norway that animal foods did not decline until after cardiovascular disease mortality had already started declining.2 Minger misleads her readers by confusing the period when rationing was introduced with the period when the intake of animal foods declined. It can be deduced from the data from the Ministry of Supplies cited by Strom and Jensen that rationing was introduced as a result of a declining availability of such products, and therefore introduced after the intake of animal foods had already declined.1

Figure 1Mortality from circulatory disease, correlated for age; consumption of fat in form of butter, milk, cheese and eggs, Norway 1938-48

Minger also misleads her readers into believing that there was almost an inverse relationship between the changes in animal protein intake and cardiovascular disease mortality in Norway during World War II by inaccurately reporting animal protein intake for the periods of 1936-37 and 1945. In order to verify Minger's interpretation of the statistics (Fig.3), please refer to the table below of macronutrient intake not present in Minger's post (Table 1), as well as the graph illustrating cardiovascular mortality rates (Fig. 2).1 2 In Minger’s own words, 'I pity da fool who doesn’t enlarge this image.'

Table 1. Macronutrient and micronutrient intake for Oslo men from 50 families, 1936-45 
Figure 2. Mortality from circulatory diseases, Norway 1927-48 
Figure 3. Denise Minger’s inaccurate interpretation of the Norwegian statistics 

Minger even posted a 'Fake Correlated Variable' graph, in an apparent attempt to ridicule Dr. Esselstyn, stating that 'For comparison’s sake, this is what a graph would look like if these variables were tightly linked'. Interestingly the 'Fake Correlated Variable' graph was actually remarkably consistent with the actual data (Figs. 4, 5).

Figure 4. Denise Minger’s 'Fake Correlated Variable' graph 
Figure 5. Actual animal protein intake and age-corrected circulatory disease mortality from the cited papers

In Minger’s critique she conveniently omitted the table from this study detailing animal protein intake despite posting the table of intake of individual food groups, and also failed to provide a free link to the paper claiming that she ‘couldn’t find any free copies to link’ despite one being easily locatable by googling the title of the paper, "Food Conditions in Norway during the War, 1939-45". These facts raise very serious questions as to whether Minger's inaccurate report of the data that appears to be heavily biased in favor of an agenda to promote animal foods was in fact intentional.

Minger also claimed that cardiovascular health did not actually improve in Norway during the war years, and that the decrease in cardiovascular mortality was obscured by an increase in mortality from infectious diseases. Minger appears to be either ignorant or unaware that Strom and Jensen provided additional data demonstrating that from over 15,000 operations carried out in Norway that were complicated by danger of thrombosis, the same surgeons found that the occurrence of these complications declined significantly during the period of deprivation of foods rich in animal fats, which then sharply increased after the resumption of intake.3 4 These findings provided strong evidence of actual improved cardiovascular health in Norway during the period of deprivation of animal foods. In Sweden where mortality from infectious diseases actually decreased during the war, there was a record decline in both cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality during the war years when animal food intake decreased (Fig. 6).2 5 Other researchers also observed a striking decline in advanced atherosclerosis in Finland and Western Germany during the periods of deprivation of animal foods that returned to near pre-war levels after increasing intake.4 6

Figure 6. Percentage of energy from animal foods and mortality from arteriosclerosis and all-causes, Sweden 1940-1944

These observations from the World Wars are unlikely coincidental as they are consistent with the significant decline in serum cholesterol, and mortality from cardiovascular disease and all-causes in former communist nations of Eastern Europe, beginning in the early 1990's when the communist subsidies on meat and animal fats were abolished after the breakup of the Soviet Union (Fig. 7).7 8 Likewise, the significant decline in serum cholesterol, and mortality from cardiovascular disease and all-causes in the pre and early statin period of the second half of the century in developed nations throughout Western Europe, North America and Australasia is partly explained as a result of successful government policies that emphasized dietary changes, particularly a decreased intake of saturated animal fat. One of the best examples is Finland which experienced the most rapid decline of coronary mortality in the world, which was predominantly explained by a significant decline in serum cholesterol as the result of a large reduction in saturated animal fat and an increase in fruit and vegetable intake (Figs. 8, 9).9 10 

Figure 7. Trends in mortality from heart disease in former communist and western nations in men age ≤64
Figure 8. Observed and predicted declines in coronary mortality in males in Eastern Finland 
Figure 9. Observed and predicted decline in serum cholesterol based on dietary changes in Finish men and women without lipid-lowering medication (1, PUFA; 2, dietary cholesterol; 3, SFA; 4, PUFA + dietary cholesterol + SFA; 5, PUFA + dietary cholesterol + SFA + trans fatty acids; 6, observed serum cholesterol)

Randomized controlled trials provide further evidence of a causal association. A meta-analysis of 395 controlled feeding trials established that dietary cholesterol and isocaloric replacement of complex carbohydrates and unsaturated fat by saturated fat raises LDL and total cholesterol.11 In addition a meta-analysis of 108 randomized controlled trials of  various medical and dietary based lipid modifying interventions found that lowering LDL cholesterol significantly decreased the risk of coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality, while modifying HDL or triglycerides provided no clear benefit after controlling for LDL cholesterol.12

Not only does it appear that Denise Minger resorted to distorting the Norwegian data, she was even spineless enough to refer to the number of lives saved from cardiovascular mortality in Norway as being 'nothing to sneeze at' in an apparent attempt to downplay the importance of saving thousands of lives.


Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and Treating the Cause of CAD


In regards to Dr. Esselstyn’s study of his initial coronary artery disease patients, Denise Minger misleads her readers into believing that 'half' the patients dropped out of the study by confusing the number of patients who had a follow-up angiogram with the number of adherent patients, simply ignoring the 7 patients who adhered to the diet but did not have a follow-up angiogram. There was actually a 75% adherence rate throughout most of this study, and in the more recent and larger decade long study of over 200 patients (known as Treating the Cause of CAD), there was an adherence rate of 91% (Vid. 1).13 14

Minger also suggested that Dr. Esselstyn’s results may have been due to luck as his study was an uncontrolled intervention study. Dr. Esselstyn however did compare the adherent and non-adherent patients. Despite having similar measurable amounts of disease at baseline as the other 18 patients, the 6 non-adherent patients had 13 new cardiac events within the first 12 years of the study despite the fact that they were still receiving standard care. On the other hand, the 18 compliant participants had no further cardiac events while being fully compliant, despite having 49 events during the 8 years prior to the study, of for which most of this time were receiving standard care.13 14 In the newer decade long study of over 200 patients, recurrent cardiac events only occurred in 0.5% of adherent participants, which is approximately 40 fold lower than other dietary or statin based trials (Vid. 1). Minger suggests that these results were due to luck but provided no evidence demonstrating that coronary artery disease can be spontaneously halted or reversed this frequently even when years of medical intervention have failed.