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Summary

Dr. Fraser discusses the findings of three major Adventist Health studies conducted over the last 50+ years, highlighting factors contributing to longevity and health among Adventists. The studies show that Adventist men live seven years longer and women live four years longer than their non-Adventist counterparts. Key lifestyle factors such as a plant-based diet, physical activity, maintaining healthy weight, eating nuts, and avoiding smoking contribute to these results. Dr. Fraser emphasizes the importance of community support and religious values in promoting these healthy lifestyles. He also explores challenges in adopting such habits and their applicability to broader populations.

Takeaways

• 🩺 Adventist Health studies have been conducted for over 50 years, focusing on health, lifestyle, and longevity.
• 🚭 The first study examined the effects of smoking and compared Adventist non-smokers with smokers, showing clear benefits of non-smoking.
• 🍽️ The second study, conducted in California, focused on diet and other health outcomes like cancer and longevity, showing that Adventist men lived 7 years longer and women 4 years longer than their non-Adventist neighbors.
• 🏃‍♂️ A third, ongoing study began in 2002 and involved about 96,000 Adventists across the U.S. and Canada, analyzing broader health factors.
• 🥗 Key factors contributing to longevity in Adventists included vegetarianism, regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, consuming nuts frequently, and avoiding smoking.
• 🧑‍⚕️ While Adventists were found to live longer, the study couldn't absolutely prove causality but provided strong evidence supported by external research.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Adventists’ community support and religious values played a significant role in encouraging healthier lifestyles and making positive health changes.
• 👨‍⚕️ The challenge in healthcare is that medical professionals often lack the time and training to guide patients through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise.
• 🌍 The findings from Adventist studies can be applied to other communities, but achieving change requires social and environmental support, much like smoking cessation efforts.
• 📜 Adventist spiritual practices have been linked to better mental and emotional health, although their direct impact on physical health, like heart attacks and cancer, is less clear.

Q & A

What was the focus of the first Adventist Health study conducted in 1968?

The first Adventist Health study, conducted in 1968, focused on the impact of smoking or not smoking on health, particularly comparing non-smoking Adventists with current smokers.

How many participants were involved in the three large Adventist Health studies mentioned?

The first study involved 22,000 Adventists from California, the second study had 34,000 participants, and the third ongoing study, started in 2002, includes 96,000 Adventists from the U.S. and Canada.

What were the key findings about the longevity of Adventists compared to their non-Adventist neighbors?

The study found that Adventist men were living more than seven years longer, and Adventist women were living about 4.2 years longer than their non-Adventist neighbors.

What lifestyle factors were identified as contributing to the increased longevity of Adventists?

Five key factors contributing to longevity were identified: vegetarianism, regular vigorous physical activity, maintaining a healthy body weight, eating nuts frequently, and not smoking.

Does the study prove causality between these lifestyle factors and longer life expectancy?

While the study shows a strong association between these lifestyle factors and longer life expectancy, it doesn't definitively prove causality. However, the evidence is supported by other studies, making the findings more reliable.

Why is it challenging for people to change their lifestyle, according to Dr. Fraser?

Changing lifestyle can be difficult because it often requires going against cultural norms. Adventists succeed because they tie health behaviors to religious values and receive support from their community, family, and social circles.

How do Adventists manage to maintain a healthier lifestyle compared to the general population?

Adventists manage to maintain a healthier lifestyle due to the integration of health behaviors with their religious beliefs and the support they receive from their community. This makes it easier to adopt and sustain beneficial habits like vegetarianism and regular exercise.

What is one challenge that doctors face in promoting lifestyle changes for patients?

One major challenge is that many doctors lack education in nutrition and behavioral change strategies. Additionally, the time required to help patients make lifestyle changes is not feasible in most medical practices.

Can the findings from the Adventist Health study be applied to other communities?

Yes, the findings are applicable to other communities since there is nothing unique about Adventists' physiology or genetics. The key is creating a supportive social environment to facilitate lifestyle changes.

What role does spirituality play in the health and longevity of Adventists?

While spirituality doesn't seem to directly affect physical health, it plays a vital role in promoting health behaviors. More religious Adventists are more likely to follow a healthy lifestyle, such as eating a plant-based diet and exercising regularly.

Outlines

00:00

🩺 Adventist Health Studies and Longevity

05:03

🥗 Key Factors for Longevity Among Adventists

10:05

🧠 Challenges of Changing Lifestyles

15:08

🏥 Limitations in Medical Practice for Lifestyle Changes

20:09

🌍 Can Adventist Health Practices Be Applied Elsewhere?

25:13

🤝 The Role of Community in Health Promotion

🙏 Spirituality and Its Impact on Mental Health

🧘‍♀️ Spirituality and Cognitive Clarity

🏘️ The Importance of a Supportive Community

🏙️ Health Promotion in Low-Income Communities

Keywords

💡Adventist Health Study

The Adventist Health Study is a series of large-scale health research projects focused on the lifestyle and health of Seventh-day Adventists. These studies, spanning over several decades, have shown significant findings related to longevity, diet, and overall health benefits for Adventists, particularly their non-smoking, plant-based diet, and active lifestyle. The video mentions three major phases of this study, with the most recent involving 96,000 participants.

💡Longevity

Longevity refers to the longer-than-average lifespan observed in the Adventist population, with men living seven years longer and women living four and a half years longer than their non-Adventist neighbors. The studies highlight the role of specific lifestyle choices, such as vegetarianism and regular exercise, in extending life expectancy.

💡Vegetarian Diet

A significant portion of Adventists follow a vegetarian diet, which has been linked to better health outcomes in the studies. The video emphasizes that being vegetarian, especially when done properly, can contribute to an additional two years of life expectancy. The role of a plant-based diet in reducing inflammation and supporting overall health is also highlighted.

💡Vigorous Physical Activity

Regular physical activity, particularly vigorous exercise done three or four times a week, was one of the key factors contributing to Adventists' longer lifespan. Exercise not only improves physical health but also contributes to better mental well-being and stress management, as mentioned in the video.

💡Nuts Consumption

Frequent consumption of nuts, about four or five times a week, was identified as another lifestyle factor contributing to increased longevity. Nuts provide essential nutrients and healthy fats that are beneficial for heart health. The video cautions, however, that portion control is important, suggesting small handfuls rather than overeating.

💡Smoking Cessation

The Adventist Health Study highlighted the strong correlation between smoking cessation and increased life expectancy. Adventists are non-smokers, and avoiding smoking was one of the five key factors identified in promoting longevity. The video contrasts the health outcomes of non-smoking Adventists with general populations where smoking was common.

💡Quality of Life

The Adventist Health Studies not only found that Adventists lived longer but also investigated the quality of those additional years. The findings suggest that these extra years were generally of good quality, with participants remaining active and healthy for much of their extended lifespan.

💡Social Support

The video discusses the role of community support within the Adventist population, particularly in promoting adherence to healthy lifestyles. The close-knit Adventist communities provide social reinforcement, making it easier for members to follow healthy habits like vegetarianism, exercise, and other beneficial practices.

💡Religiosity

Religiosity refers to the influence of religious beliefs on the lifestyle choices of Adventists. The video explains that their commitment to faith, including valuing the body as a temple, encourages healthier living. Although no direct link between religiosity and physical health was proven, it has an indirect impact by promoting health-conscious behaviors.

💡Blue Zones

Blue Zones are regions in the world where people live significantly longer than average. Loma Linda, where the Adventist studies were conducted, is one such Blue Zone. The video compares Loma Linda's community and lifestyle practices to other Blue Zones and suggests that the community support and shared lifestyle choices play a crucial role in maintaining health and longevity.

Highlights

Dr. Fraser discusses the Adventist Health study, which has been running for over 50 years, funded by the federal government to investigate the health and longevity of Adventists.

Three large studies have been conducted, starting in 1968, involving tens of thousands of Adventists across California, the U.S., and Canada.

The first study, conducted in California, focused on the impact of smoking, comparing Adventists who don't smoke with those who do.

The second study, from 1978, involved 34,000 Adventists and focused on diet and other health outcomes beyond cancer and lung disease.

The third ongoing study, which began in 2002, involved 96,000 Adventists from across North America, investigating health and longevity.

Results showed that Adventist men lived 7 years longer, and women 4-6 years longer than their non-Adventist counterparts in California.

More adherent Adventists, particularly vegetarians and those following a healthy lifestyle, could live up to 10 years longer than less adherent Adventists.

Dr. Fraser identified five key factors for longevity: vegetarian diet, regular physical activity, maintaining healthy weight, eating nuts frequently, and avoiding smoking.

These five factors, when followed, could lead to up to 10 extra years of life.

He highlights the importance of not only extending life but also improving the quality of those extra years.

Dr. Fraser explains that the Adventist community's success in lifestyle changes is partly due to religious and social support systems.

The challenge for non-Adventists lies in creating environments that support similar lifestyle changes, particularly without a close-knit religious community.

The study shows that lifestyle changes are effective for everyone, not just Adventists, but changing behavior is challenging without support.

Dr. Fraser emphasizes the need for doctors to understand nutrition and behavior change strategies, which many medical professionals currently lack.

He notes that the Adventist approach to health is transportable to other communities but requires societal and sometimes legislative support for broader success.

Transcripts

good all right doctor um Dr Fraser uh

would you um talk about some findings um

significant findings on your uh

Adventist Health study uh related to

health and um the longevity of the

Adventist

people yes here in California we've

actually conducted

three large studies of the health of

Adventist starting way back in

1968 actually so it's more than 50 or 60

years now that we've had funding from

the federal government actually so it's

not funded here by the church or by L

melinder it comes from the

government uh the first one involved

about 22,000 Adventist just from the

state of

California and was focused on the impact

of smoking or not smoking because we

were non-smokers and there was another

big study of current smokers not advin

of course which was a nice comparison

the second study began about

1978 or

1980 and involved

34,000 people in California all

Adventists and had more of a focus on

diet and other health comes apart from

say cancer and lung cancer and things

like that and then our third study began

in

2002 and it's still kind of ongoing and

involved about 96,000 Adventists from

all over the country and also some in

Canada and it was actually the second of

these studies that we were able to ask

questions that was the one just in

California 34,000 people about how long

were Adventist

living uh as compared to their

non-adventist neighbors because there

were good statistics from the whole

state of California and we were now

providing statistics from 34,000

Adventists in California comparable

people in some ways at least where they

lived very different in other ways um

and to our great surprise actually we

expected some differences but in the men

we found that they were living more more

than seven years longer than their

neighbors and the woman about 4 and A2

years longer than their neighbors and

these were based on thousands and

thousands of deaths so it wasn't a

chance kind of observation something was

really going on here that was important

and uh you know the questions

immediately came up well so that's nice

to have extra years but what is the

quality of those extra years and we were

able to look at that a little bit and um

I can talk some more about that but you

know bottom line is it seemed like the

quality of those extra years was pretty

good wow

um

go um how is it that the Adventist

um have this why what is the secret of

this seven years more or even four years

for the ladies ladies yes and in fact of

course uh to add a little bit more to

that

um Adventists are not all living their

life in the same way of course there's

some Adventists that are more or less

adherent or their situation is such that

they can easily become vegetarians and

not so easy but in our studies about

half them were vegetarians here in the

United States probably a little more

than Brazil I would guess um and so we

were also able to ask questions

about the way they live their life in

more detail and we found that the

Adventists that were most adherent to

what the church recommended basically

and increasingly what science was

recommending too actually from studies

of non-adventist we found that those

more adherent Adventists were getting

about 10 extra years and yet there were

others of course who were still eating

hamburgers and not exercising and

overweight weight and all these things

still ADV Venice uh that weren't getting

very many extra years at all so there

was this big range and we were able

actually able to identify four or five

different things that seem to each give

about two extra years of life as far as

we could judge one was being a

vegetarian and of course there are good

vegetarians and bad vegetarians and we

perhaps s to say some more about that

but anyhow overall vegetarians were

doing better those that were careful got

some regular vigorous physical activity

three or four times a week people that

were kind of careful of their body

weight not too thin and not too fat and

there's kind of a somewhat broad range

in the middle that seemed to be ideal uh

interestingly people that um ate nuts

with some

frequency um not sitting in front of the

TV with a bucket eating the nuts but

small handful four or five times a week

seem to do better and then of course

people who had never been smokers so

they they were five factors that if you

did them all it seemed like you were

getting close to about 10 years of life

extra which is a big deal of course it

is it is wow uh now the study um proves

that longevity it can't be

like riched maybe um using like

intentional the remedies the natural

remedies can you say

that it it's very um hard to be

absolutely clear that a study like this

proves

causality what it shows is that the

people that were more adherent were

living longer no question about that our

study proves that sure but to say that

to be absolutely sure that the cause of

that is these five things that we

identify

is something which we've provided good

evidence for but I wouldn't say it's

absolute proof but when you build on

that from the results of many other

studies that also would tend to identify

these same five factors then the proof

becomes closer to being a fact I think

okay in your opinion what are the major

challenges for a person to

change her lifestyle

his

lifestyle yeah well particularly in the

United States and I I think it's the

same in Brazil you have to become a

little bit

countercultural in some ways to do the

things

that really we know are the correct

things to do because one thing I like to

say which I think is true that there's

nothing special about the air and Linder

or the water or

the AA mortar and Adventist households

there's nothing

particular that we do that is so special

and that all kinds of August bodies such

as the American Heart Association and

many other are recommending the

differences that Adventists managed to

do it and so the question

becomes why is it the Adventist can make

these changes more effectively than

others

and we think that there's some real

genius and tying it into a religion

because it makes it a a valued aspect of

your life and moreover being part of a

community like this you get support from

your spouse your family uh the people

that you associate with and socialize

with and moreover there there are

certain skills that are sometimes very

helpful to be uh dealing with preparing

tasty vegetarian meals I mean

vegetarians don't eat just lettuce and

carrots you know there's many many uh

tasty things that uh you can put

together but certain amount of skill so

I think that there are both religious

motivations it's part of what we believe

is

important um to care for our bodies uh

secondly you we have the social support

in many ways that enable Adventists to

make these things happen so they're not

doing anything in the view of modern

science that is so dramatic but they're

just doing it well or doing it better

good good so

um in your opinion why is it that the

the medical community are still treating

same old diseases or conditions in the

old way

that's a very good question and you know

I'm a

cardiologist and we get locked into

Medical

Systems um and um you know doctors like

everyone else have to take home salary

um the way it is here in the United

States and I can't say about

Brazil um Doctors Now operate in groups

uh there's usually a group manager the

solo practice is not nearly as common

it's almost gone so you don't have the

opportunity to make up your mind and say

well I'm going to take the necessary

time with selected patients to talk with

them and help them understand uh what

needs to be done um that is hardly

possible in the medical world these days

and there are other professionals who

have some skills there the the other

thing to say about that is that doctors

often just don't know how um the most

doctors have a good education on

nutrition science going through medical

school no do they have any idea very

much on behavioral tra change strategies

to help people make these changes having

a clue most of them and moreover they

could not commit the time because it's a

a really timec consuming thing uh I've

been involved in programs over the years

to help people change but it involves

coming back to evening classes and

working with nutritionists and other

behavioral change experts so if you

don't have this supportive Community to

help you and make it more natural it's a

really really hard thing to change

people's behavior I often say that there

are kind of three things that are

important to people and almost part of

their identity one is their religion

second is their politics and third is

how they eat and to change any of those

is actually very hard can be done but

it's not something that most medical

practitioners one have the time for or

are willing to commit the time and

secondly even though

how

wow

um do you think doctor that the your

findings on your studies could be be

applied in

other um different context not for other

uh communities absolutely um I mean

there's nothing special about Adventists

we have the same physiology we have the

same biochemistry probably the same

genes uh so what works in our community

absolutely should be working in others

and you know the kind of things that

have been found big studies like framing

him and the nurse's health study and so

forth largely aired by what we find

amongst adven uh as well uh we find that

people with high blood pressure and high

cholesterol that have a smoking history

before they became Adventists all have a

higher rate of heart attack which is

just what we'd expect so there's nothing

special about Adventists and what we're

finding and experiencing here that

shouldn't be transportable to other

communities the big question is can you

put in place the social environment to

help people make the changes that are

necessary and it kind of can be done uh

think about cigarette smoking and how

many decades it took between we first

began to understand how bad it was which

was back in the early 1950s studies of

doctors in the United Kingdom actually

but it took 20 30 40 years before legis

ation in fact apart from other things

and increasing the cost of cigarettes

but legislation as soon as in the United

States it became illegal to smoke in

restaurants and many other public places

that really had an effect now that won't

always work but it's got to obviously be

a combination of things but sometimes it

needs a little bit of legislation as

well now you can't absolutely legislate

things because think about Prohibition

in the United States back in the 1930s

out Lord alcohol didn't work at all so

there's got to be some other social

supports going on at the same time

before you can effectively legislate

them yeah yeah so um what do you think

doctor that would be um specific Strate

strategies on maintaining

Health especially that those that are

used here or come here in lomalinda that

are different from the other blue zones

in terms of U health

promotion that's a good question and I

won't claim to know very much about the

other blue zones but from the little bit

that I do know it does seem to me that

this whole aspect of living in a

close-nit supportive Community is one

important thing I think in part not in

part because of perhaps the the

psychological effects but I think

equally

important that it manages to maintain a

way of life in the way that I've been

talking about really amongst the

Adventists um just like amongst our

studies in within Adventists that we've

actually looked at the impact of

religiosity itself your concepts of God

and how adherent you are and all that

and as far as we can tell those kind of

things can have an impact on

psychological health and feelings of

depression and and and can be very

helpful there but not directly on

physical health but the religion has an

impact overall because it promotes the

health behaviors that are important to

maintain physical health and I think

that again that kind of social support

in some of these other blue zones can do

much the same thing but having said that

the kinds of communities they are the

kind of things that they trying to

promote and to maintain involve good

amounts of physical activity uh flesh

foods are usually more of a condiment

than a main CA uh a lot of fruits and

vegetables and uh you know very active

life um now in many uh of these there's

also a little bit of alcohol involved as

well which is not a characteristic of

Adventists and it seems like at least in

our communities alcohol is something to

avoid for many different reasons not

only direct physical health but uh

social health psychological health and

on and on as well as some aspects of

physical health that's a whole different

question um so the there there's some of

the similarities and there's just a few

differences as well perhaps eating fish

would be another and we have some

interesting findings and thoughts about

fish and our data as well actually okay

okay now let's talk a bit a little bit

about um the spiritual thing in the

lifestyles of the uh the Adventist

here there is there

um a point or maybe a few practices in

the spir spirituality that impacts on

the longevity

here um well more or less as I said a

few minutes ago we have not been able to

find Direct relationships between if you

like the psychological spiritual

elements of one's thinking having a

direct impact on heart attack or cancer

or how long you live although there may

be some of that and I wouldn't say

entirely that there's not but we have

found that the your concept of God

whether you think of them as someone who

supportive and a friend that you can go

to rather than a ogre or someone who's

pushing you down can be really helpful

for people in terms of depressive

feelings like we find that people say

that have been recently

divorced if their score on a index of

how they think of God is in the good

range they're much less likely to be

depressed than the people who are

recently divorced and who score low on

on that scale but like I said before

where we think that religion is just

vitally important in our

community is that the people that are

more religious and committed are more

likely to be vegetarian they're more

like to physical activity and you know

eat a few nuts and and be interested in

their physical health as well actually

okay

um do you think the health m message is

in somewhere some way um maybe

um a way to prepare yourself to face

like struggles and dealing with troubles

in

life yes so there's been uh one or two

papers that I haven't written directly

but involving excuse me our data um that

do suggest that um people who are

vegetarians uh perhaps less likely to

have a lot of stress and um anxiety in

their life and can perhaps cope with

that a little better uh I don't think

the evidence relating to that is very

robust yet but we've got some pointers

in that direction so we do know for

instance that uh a more plant-based diet

is an anti-inflammatory diet and that in

itself there's some evidence can think

be helpful in terms of one's mental

attitudes and thoughts and dealing with

stress and so forth but um I'm not an

expert in that area and we have not

looked into that in very great detail so

all right now doctor um people that um

have a um good

lifestyle often mention that they feel

like they they they think more clearly

they have a little they feel like the

discernment it's better

um do you think they have a a better uh

maybe spiritual comprehension as well

what is your um findings or thoughts on

that yeah well we' have never mentioned

that or measured that

directly um

but there is a relationship between the

two and it's a question of which way

that causality

goes uh is it because they're spiritual

that they

are thinking more clearly or is it

because they're thinking more clearly

they're more likely to be spiritual and

be

vegetarians um so you

know the kind of studies we've got and

the data we've got doesn't allow us to

dress the direction of causality uh very

clearly but it's quite possible that's

the case I mean you're you're getting in

in elderly people you uh starting to

talk about dementia and so forth but I

think that your question was more

relating to even regular people who are

uh not at that stage in their life and

um there there's some thought that that

may be true but um it's it's a hard

thing to measure there's

I don't think there's really any strong

well validated Ines that look at the

clarity of thought maybe IQ and um but

we've never measured the IQ and the

Adventist vegetarians compared to

nonvegetarians I'm I me I mean a lot of

people that

exper a lot of people that um go into a

better lifestyle go exercise eat better

and sleep better they they mention that

they think better yes they see things a

little more like oh wow I've I've read

this dozen times and now I understand

you know just uh that's what I meant not

not like a measuring thing but like

right no well I I've had the same

experience um that you know many people

have told me the same thing but you know

I'm a researcher and I like to collect

data and make measurements and uh that

that's actually hard to prove but

certainly people many people will tell

you that

yes um now let's talk about the

community um support

or what's the

word

environment well you have a strong

Community um support here at lomalinda

okay again um would you uh describe how

does this community support here at

lomalinda um helps mentally and

emotionally the people that live here

comparing to the other

places um you mean even Adventists and

other places yeah could be yes um I I'm

not sure that it's all that special um

now you know we we all like to associate

with people who think like us and uh you

know we can agree with mostly and have

some good discussions with and to the

extent that Linda being a university

town it's a more academic Community we

find groups of people here that we fit

in with but having said that you know

I've lived in many smaller communities

in fact I live my half my life now in

New Zealand and the little church

closest to where I live it's not really

a church typically has between 5 and 12

people attend very different Community

um but nice committed people not

academic at all and so we live very

different lives but we still

kind of think in many of the same ways

not actually identical there are

different kinds of advents you know but

um close enough uh we tend to eat them

the same way they have a small potluck

uh every Sabbath after church and which

is nice you can sit around and get to

talk to people so to that extent I

suppose there's nothing particularly

special about adventism and that way

people can belong to clubs of

many sorts although they'll have a

different Focus won't they it might be

book reading or playing tennis or all

kinds of things whereas in a religion uh

I particularly like Adventists you've

got a A Wider scope that deals with

lifestyle and and many of its facets so

L Linda is good for people like

me it wouldn't necessarily be good for

some Adventist who come from a little

church out in the Midwest of the United

States who might have a different way of

uh thinking of some of these things but

I think it really is important for one

to be able to associate with people that

can be helpful to you when there are

tough times or uh you having challenges

living your life maybe in the way that

is

ideal um so to that extent belonging to

a c Community like that is like this is

good for for people like me um in terms

of is there anything special about Linda

in terms of promoting

lifestyle um yes probably there are

probably more people here that are

interested in that than uh the average

community and uh that that's that's very

helpful yeah yeah I believe so now let's

talk about um other communities not not

even Adventists um out of here

especially the lowincome communities is

do you think is it possible to engage uh

to create an

environmental um environment that it's

Health

promotional for these communities do you

believe that's

possible it it's more challenging