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Summary
TLDRDr. 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
- π©Ί Adventist Health studies have been conducted for over 50 years, focusing on health, lifestyle, and longevity.
- π The first study examined the effects of smoking and compared Adventist non-smokers with smokers, showing clear benefits of non-smoking.
- π½οΈ 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.
- πββοΈ A third, ongoing study began in 2002 and involved about 96,000 Adventists across the U.S. and Canada, analyzing broader health factors.
- π₯ Key factors contributing to longevity in Adventists included vegetarianism, regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, consuming nuts frequently, and avoiding smoking.
- π§ββοΈ While Adventists were found to live longer, the study couldn't absolutely prove causality but provided strong evidence supported by external research.
- π¨βπ©βπ§βπ¦ Adventistsβ community support and religious values played a significant role in encouraging healthier lifestyles and making positive health changes.
- π¨ββοΈ The challenge in healthcare is that medical professionals often lack the time and training to guide patients through lifestyle changes like diet and exercise.
- π The findings from Adventist studies can be applied to other communities, but achieving change requires social and environmental support, much like smoking cessation efforts.
- π 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
π©Ί Adventist Health Studies and Longevity
π₯ Key Factors for Longevity Among Adventists
π§ Challenges of Changing Lifestyles
π₯ Limitations in Medical Practice for Lifestyle Changes
π Can Adventist Health Practices Be Applied Elsewhere?
π€ The Role of Community in Health Promotion
π Spirituality and Its Impact on Mental Health
π§ββοΈ Spirituality and Cognitive Clarity
ποΈ The Importance of a Supportive Community
ποΈ Health Promotion in Low-Income Communities
Mindmap
Keywords
π‘Adventist Health Study
π‘Longevity
π‘Vegetarian Diet
π‘Vigorous Physical Activity
π‘Nuts Consumption
π‘Smoking Cessation
π‘Quality of Life
π‘Social Support
π‘Religiosity
π‘Blue Zones
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
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