Participants: Don Mckintosh (Host), John Kelly
Series Code: HFAL
Program Code: HFAL000164
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00:50 Hello, and welcome to Health for a Lifetime.
00:51 I'm your host Don Mackintosh. 00:53 We're glad that you've joined us today. 00:55 Today we're going to talk about research. 00:57 Now, don't go to sleep, research is exciting, it's important, 01:00 it's something that helps us understand what we should and 01:03 shouldn't do. 01:05 And today to talk with us about research is Dr. John Kelly. 01:09 He's a medical doctor. 01:10 He graduated just recently in the year 2000 and his focus is 01:15 on research. 01:16 He has a MPH in epidemiology and he is involved in ongoing 01:21 research even as we speak. 01:23 Thanks for joining us Dr. Kelly. 01:24 Glad to be here with you, Don. 01:27 You have an interesting story that you went into medical 01:30 school a little bit older than most people. 01:33 That's true. 01:34 I started medical school at Loma Linda when I was 48. 01:38 Forty-eight! 01:39 I wouldn't recommend it but its been quite an interesting life. 01:41 Usually people that get involved in research start much younger 01:46 but somehow you were able to get right into research. 01:49 Yes, that's true. 01:50 I have a background in information systems and 01:54 computing and that probably helped a lot. 01:57 Plus I'm one of the rare people that like mathematics and 02:00 statistics and so forth. 02:02 Ok, good, we're glad that you're with us today. 02:05 You're going to talk about the lifestyle research that's 02:08 been done focusing on Adventists and then how it relates to 02:13 the overall vision of the Adventist Church. 02:16 Yes, yes. 02:17 You know in the National Geographic, 02:20 the November 2005 National Geographic, 02:24 was on longevity. 02:27 You know they looked at three different groups that have a 02:33 large number of centenarians, people that are 100 years old 02:37 or older. 02:38 They looked at folks from Sardinia in Italy, 02:43 from Okinawa in Japan, and interestingly enough a group 02:47 right here in the United States in Loma Linda, California - 02:51 Seventh-day Adventists. 02:54 I think we have a graphic showing this cover: 03:13 I want to share why there is such a connection there. 03:16 So there is a definite connection between that. 03:19 I mean to show up on the front of a national magazine like 03:23 National Geographic and to be viewed positively, the article, 03:27 was I assume, positive? 03:29 Yes, actually these three groups shared one thing in common. 03:36 And that is they tended to live about 10 years longer than the 03:40 average person, the average person in the public. 03:45 Was there anything that set the Adventists apart from the other 03:47 two groups? 03:48 Yes, actually it's interesting that they tried to outline 03:53 what each group's reason for why they have this extra 03:58 longevity. 03:59 There were a number of similarities. 04:01 For example plant based diet was common. 04:04 But one thing that they mentioned about the 04:06 Seventh-day Adventist group that they studied was that they were 04:09 one of the three that were not loosing their advantage. 04:13 They were not loosing their advantage in living longer, 04:17 healthier lives. 04:18 The Sardinians, for example, they pointed out, the youngsters 04:23 today are adopting Western diet and lifestyle and that 04:27 group is loosing some of the longevity they enjoy. 04:31 Now, was it because of the fact that we had done the 04:35 Adventist Health Study number one that they could say 04:38 we weren't loosing our edge? 04:41 How did they come up with that? 04:42 Was it a result of research? 04:44 Yes, well the fact that Seventh-day Adventists are not 04:49 loosing is based on current measures and observations. 04:54 I don't know that we can't say that Seventh-day Adventists 04:59 aren't loosing some, but they're not loosing like these other two 05:03 groups - Okinawa and Sardinians. 05:05 So the careful research done in the Adventist Health Study - 05:10 talk to me a little bit about that, both number one and 05:14 number two. 05:15 Actually lifestyle research began about 40 years ago 05:22 at Loma Linda University on Seventh-day Adventists. 05:27 Doctors Phillips and Lemon were some of the early researchers 05:31 and now today, Dr. Gary Frazier is head of the 05:34 Adventist Health Study 2; Dr. Sabatae with some of the 05:37 nut studies. 05:38 The thing that's important about this is that the early 05:42 studies showed such significant difference between 05:45 Seventh-day Adventists and other groups that the 05:48 National Institute of Health are funding the 05:52 Adventist Health Study 2 at about 12 million dollars of 05:56 public money to do this. 05:58 This will be the largest study of its type on a group of people 06:03 whose diet is largely plant based and have a number of 06:07 health principles that they follow. 06:09 So they want to do this because the group that they're studying 06:13 is living so much longer than other, has so many positive 06:16 effects, they said, "We want to put money to that maybe learn 06:19 something there that could help other Americans. " 06:21 Absolutely. 06:22 In fact Seventh-day Adventists have been called a national 06:25 treasure by some of the researchers that are doing, 06:29 looking at the relationship between lifestyle and disease. 06:33 Well, many times I grew up a Seventh-day Adventist, I'm a 06:37 fourth generation Seventh-day Adventist pastor. 06:40 In my family there were two groups. 06:42 There were those that listened before there was ever research 06:46 there was revelation, I guess you'd say, and then there were 06:49 those that listened to that and there were those that did not 06:53 listen to that and it's been interesting to see the diseases 06:57 that have come upon the one side of the family that said, "Hey, 06:59 we're not going to listen to that" vs. the other. 07:02 But now Adventists are kind of more energized again themselves 07:06 and the world seems to be more interested because of 07:09 this research. 07:10 Yes, well, you know what's really interesting to me is that 07:13 when we started this research 40 years ago a plant based or 07:17 vegetarian diet was actually considered deficient. 07:20 Some of the early research was looking at showing that 07:24 vegetarian diet was not deficient. 07:27 Now we moved to where we're actually have found 07:30 it's superior. 07:31 We are now looking at the ways in which eating a plant based 07:35 diet is a superior practice. 07:37 But when we started this was far from the case. 07:40 Did you know that a number of things have been actually first 07:43 found in Seventh-day Adventists? 07:45 For example: the beneficial effect of nuts was first found 07:49 in the Adventist Health Study. 07:51 It's been confirmed now in every major study that has looked 07:54 at this, but it was first discovered in the 07:58 Adventist Health Study. 07:59 You know when I was working as a nurse, and I was of course an 08:02 Adventist and I practiced a vegetarian lifestyle, they'd 08:05 always call me a nut. 08:07 So now they have scientific research to back that up! 08:11 Now many times the people that talk about the information 08:15 that the Adventist church has been given that led to these 08:20 benefits, they talk about this as being the "entering wedge. " 08:24 They talk about how because Adventists are healthy that 08:29 allows them to enter into other discussions of more substantial 08:34 nature and I think you've noticed that as well. 08:37 Yes, absolutely. 08:38 It's referred to as the "right arm" 08:42 of our evangelistic work. 08:45 I've run into folk who say, 08:47 "Well, why should we be doing research?" 08:49 Shouldn't we be spending this time and money... I mean you're 08:51 a physician, why aren't you seeing patients?" 08:53 But do you know some of church leaders, like Mark Finley is one 09:00 our leaders in evangelism, they see the value of this kind 09:04 of scientific support for the principles in the Bible? 09:09 In fact I have a quote here from Mark Finley, a letter that 09:12 he wrote to me: 09:38 You know, I believe this and I was so glad that he was willing 09:43 to write a letter for me. 09:45 I believe that this is part of strengthening that "right arm" 09:50 making it more capable of reaching further into society 09:53 into scientific circles in particular. 09:56 You know I think it was Sir Isaac Newton who said, 09:59 "We think God's thoughts after Him. " 10:02 I think the reason he went into scientific research, as I 10:07 understand it, was because he wanted to understand the books 10:12 of Daniel and Revelation. 10:13 He was into math and science like you are, he did all kinds 10:17 of research that not only benefited our world in science 10:22 but also now increases our faith in revelation in the Bible. 10:27 Yes, absolutely. 10:28 It's clear now with articles like the National Geographic, 10:33 it's clear that there are advantages to sharing our 10:39 gospel with the world from the results of lifestyle research. 10:44 I want to mention, the Adventist Health Study II, this is the 10:49 second one, we have sent out information to about 135,000 10:55 or so folks to participate but we're still not getting them all 11:01 back and we need another 30,000 folk to join us to make this a 11:07 successful study. 11:08 So I just want to put a plug... 11:10 I'd to encourage folk to help us. 11:12 Right, and when this airs there may have been more that 11:16 responded or less, but whenever this airs, it would be great to 11:21 call... what would they call Loma Linda University 11:24 and ask for the Research Department 11:26 and say, "If there is any ongoing research 11:28 let me be a part of it? 11:29 Yes, and they would know exactly what to do with the call. 11:31 Is this if they are having good health habits or 11:35 bad health habits - whatever they are doing? 11:38 Exactly, we need everyone to participate. 11:41 Even if you're out there and you're not really doing what 11:45 you should, you're going to be helpful because, you're going 11:48 to be able to prove certain points. 11:51 Those that do certain things vs. those that don't and that's very 11:55 useful data. 11:56 Sure and we don't know all the habits which will turn out 12:00 to be something useful or something less useful. 12:03 You know the CDC, The Center for Disease Control, 12:07 have identified lifestyle factors as some of the leading 12:13 cause of death. 12:14 And when you think of death, we generally think, a person 12:17 who dies of heart disease or dies of cancer or whatever, 12:21 but those are what we call proximal causes - that's what 12:25 actually killed you. 12:26 But what is the ultimate cause? 12:28 What is causing that heart disease? 12:30 We now know, and the CDC has recognized and published 12:35 information showing us, that the ultimate causes are 12:39 first - tobacco. 12:40 This is report on, citing from the year of 2000, tobacco is the 12:48 leading cause, and then inactivity and poor diet 12:54 is second. 12:56 So these are the two major causes, ultimate causes 13:02 in death, are lifestyle choices. 13:05 They are just things that we choose. 13:06 That's correct. 13:07 And we've even looked at the leading proximal cause is 13:11 heart disease and the second is cancer. 13:14 Well, both of those, it turns out, perhaps as much as 90%, 13:19 the figures vary from 70 to 90 some percent, of heart disease 13:23 and cancer is either preventable or reversible 13:27 when lifestyle changes. 13:29 And a lot of this information is come out of studies like the 13:31 Adventist Health Study and other studies. 13:33 This is fascinating stuff. 13:35 We're talking with Dr. John Kelly. 13:37 We're talking about the Adventist Health Study 13:39 We're talking about really the value of research and how it 13:43 drives our confidence in what God's Word reveals, I mean, 13:48 Genesis 1:29 clearly says fruits, nuts, grains, and 13:51 vegetables. 13:52 And we're looking more closely at the science behind that. 13:56 When we come back, we'll continue looking at this 13:59 fascinating subject. 14:00 We hope you join us. 14:02 Have you found yourself wishing that you could 14:04 shed a few pounds? 14:05 Have you been on a diet for most of your life? 14:08 But not found anything that will really keep the weight off? 14:11 If you've answered yes to any of these questions, then we 14:14 have a solution for you that works. 14:17 Dr. Hans Diehl and Dr. Aileen Ludington 14:19 have written a marvelous booklet called, 14:21 Reversing Obesity Naturally, and we'd like to send it to you 14:25 free of charge. 14:26 Here's a medically sound approach successfully used 14:29 by thousands who are able to eat more 14:31 and loose weight permanently 14:33 without feeling guilty or hungry through lifestyle medicine. 14:37 Dr. Diehl and Dr. Ludington have been featured on 3ABN 14:40 and in this booklet they present a sensible approach to eating, 14:44 nutrition, and lifestyle changes that can help you prevent 14:47 heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. 14:50 Call or write today for your free copy: 15:03 Welcome back. 15:04 We're talking with Dr. John Kelly. 15:05 He's a medical doctor and a researcher from 15:08 Loma Linda University. 15:09 And he has a special interest in lifestyle research; looking at 15:15 things we can do in the style of life that we lead to stop, 15:20 reverse, and better yet, prevent the common killer diseases in 15:25 Western nations and around the world. 15:28 Thanks for joining us Dr. Kelly. 15:29 I'm glad I can be with you. 15:31 You know you were talking about how the Adventist lifestyle has 15:36 been profiled on the front of National Geographic. 15:38 You were talking about how research really laid the 15:41 foundation for that article, the importance of research. 15:44 You were encouraging the Adventists that are watching 15:46 to say, "Hey, look, get involved, if there's ongoing 15:49 research, call in. " 15:50 Call in today even, if you're watching the program. 15:54 Then you were talking about these proximal vs. actual, 15:59 I don't know if that's the right term, or ultimate causes 16:03 of death and disease. 16:06 The top three I think you mentioned was tobacco, 16:08 inactivity, and diet. 16:11 Yes, those are definitely been published as, in the scientific 16:16 literature, as the main, ultimate causes, the primary 16:21 ultimate cause of death. 16:22 That means, for example, a person dies of heart disease 16:25 because there was a blockage in the coronary artery where 16:28 there was a build up of plaque and it lead to death of heart 16:31 tissue. 16:32 But what caused that build up, what caused that blockage? 16:36 That wasn't heart disease, that was hyperlipidemia, that was 16:40 diet, that was poor diet, high cholesterol, lack of exercise. 16:45 It was like a complete adding up of all the many choices that are 16:48 made three and sometimes many more times a day in what we eat 16:52 or don't eat. 16:53 Yes, yes. 16:54 The U.S. government is spending 12 million dollars to study this 16:59 but you have another burden and that burden has to do with 17:02 already ongoing lifestyle initiatives. 17:06 Tell us about that. 17:07 Yes, thank you. 17:08 You know the natural progression of research is first we do 17:11 observational research - we observe what's going on. 17:15 Then from the conclusions on hypotheses from that 17:18 we do what we call intervention or experiments. 17:21 We try to experiment to test our hypotheses. 17:25 And that's really what my passion is. 17:28 We have studies that we are beginning where we're using 17:32 not just observation but intervention. 17:35 It actually there's a natural experiment that's been going on 17:40 for some time because Adventist lifestyle centers have been 17:44 operating since back in the 1870's, in fact I think we have 17:48 a little slide showing a list of some of these: 18:31 So here you see we have a rich history of centers using these 18:37 principles to treat patients. 18:38 But do you know that we've not done any rigorous research 18:41 looking at their outcomes? 18:44 There's not been a multi center study done previously. 18:49 So we established a, that was my vision and dream, 18:52 and so Loma Linda University School of Public Health 18:56 we've established the Lifestyle Research Initiative. 18:59 The goal is to study these intervention centers and to gain 19:06 some external funding just like we did with the 19:08 Adventist Health Study. 19:09 Ok, so you want to look at these existing institutions. 19:12 They've been there sometimes for many years and they're 19:15 helping all kinds of people, but you're hoping that with this 19:18 research you can document what you already know is true 19:21 and that is that their interventions are some of the 19:24 best in the nation, some of the best in the world. 19:27 Yes, we believe, based from case histories and antidotal stories 19:32 over more than a century, 19:34 we believe that they can be effective. 19:36 What we don't have, we don't have rigorous, scientific 19:40 studies that have been done on this. 19:42 I wanted to mention that the Lifestyle Research Initiative, 19:46 some folks may have seen it, it was in the Adventist Review 19:51 in August of 2004. 19:54 Here we have a slide showing the cover picture. 19:56 This is a cutting edge edition of the Review. 19:58 And then there was an article: 20:03 And there was Dr. Sabatae and myself and some of our 20:06 co-workers in some of the pictures. 20:09 Yes, this is something that we have a lot of church support for 20:13 and the School of Public Health and Mark Finley in his letter. 20:16 We have a slide, he says: 20:36 So not just documenting what's in the past but treating it. 20:39 And you want to document that. 20:41 That is correct. 20:42 I consider it a calling, an honor and a privilege to be 20:45 working in this area. 20:48 As I say, the principles have been used for over a century 20:53 but we haven't actually done the study, the rigorous kind of 20:58 research that we're doing now. 20:59 So you're actually... it's not going to be a surprise. 21:02 You know how the research going to turn out because 21:04 early Adventists were led not by science but by revelation. 21:11 Yes, this is going to be very, very interesting. 21:14 Well, one of the things that was a challenge for the church 21:18 leadership when I studied into this back when we first started 21:22 doing lifestyle research at Loma Linda, there was some 21:25 concern about whither this was going to be a good thing to do 21:29 or not because our health message was based on revelation 21:33 much more so than science. 21:35 Well, now time has shown that in fact the science is there 21:39 just as solid as the revelation. 21:42 So here again, this time we're not nearly 21:45 so skittish, concerned. 21:47 We know what we're going to find. 21:49 Anytime as a scientist we say, 21:51 "We know what we're going to find" 21:52 you're heading for trouble. 21:54 You have to be objective and look for what is actually 22:00 happening not only what you hope is happening. 22:02 Right, and has there ever been a surprise 22:05 when people have done that? 22:06 Oh sure, sure, that has been. 22:08 In fact one of the ones that comes to my mind is 22:10 We were both recently at a meeting where a world class 22:14 scientist was telling how he started off to do research on 22:19 the benefits of protein to increase the world's food supply 22:24 only to find out, for goodness sake, plant protein is superior 22:29 to the animal protein that he was promoting 22:32 or studying initially. 22:34 He found some very different conclusions. 22:35 We're talking about Dr. Collin Campbell. 22:37 But even in our own work, for example, we now know that there 22:43 are Seventh-day Adventists have a higher incidence of 22:48 prostate cancer than some other groups. 22:51 Because? 22:53 Well, that is yet to be uncontroversially settled, 22:58 determined and settled. 22:59 But it is a good hypotheses is because, you know 23:02 Seventh-day Adventist tend to be lacto-ovo vegetarian. 23:06 They tend to eat a lot of dairy products and dairy is 23:09 clearly associated with prostate cancer, at least I 23:12 believe it's beyond a shadow of a doubt. 23:14 There's still some controversy but it's becoming clear 23:17 that's a factor. 23:18 So with this Adventist observational research you 23:23 actually have some kind of grant where you're able to look 23:26 at these lifestyle centers like Uchee Pines, Weimar, all these 23:29 different ones you mentioned that are in existence? 23:32 Well, actually we don't have a grant yet for the multi-center 23:39 study we would like to do. 23:41 What we do have is... well I think I have a list here showing 23:47 the studies that we have underway: 24:47 This shows that... here's six studies that we have in some 24:53 point of progress. 24:56 We have the 12 million dollars going for 24:59 Adventist Health Study 2, I mentioned. 25:01 We're very happy for that. 25:03 But do you know in the beginning we didn't... the 25:05 National Institute of Health did say, "Hey we have 12 million 25:07 dollars, would you like it?" 25:09 We had to do a lot of preliminary work funded by 25:13 private funds to show that there is something here 25:17 worth studying. 25:18 Well, we're at that same process now. 25:19 We've got to do these preliminary studies on our own 25:22 with private funding to show the value and then I believe we'll 25:26 be able to get some external funds. 25:29 So when people are out there and they're watching and say, 25:32 "Hey, I'd really like to see that go forward. " 25:34 You would certainly welcome a phone call from them saying, 25:36 "I'd like to be involved in helping fund that. " 25:39 Oh, absolutely and there are people, and we know there are 25:42 people who have told me, "I would like to help fund a study 25:45 at such and such center or of a certain disease. 25:47 We are wanting to help move forward this rigorous study 25:55 of using Adventist lifestyle principles to treat disease 26:02 at these lifestyle centers. 26:04 Well, I could definitely see how that's going to strengthen 26:07 the hand of area churches as they help people with their 26:11 physical needs and then as people are helped physically 26:14 you know they look for two things, scientific excellence 26:17 and a sacrificial spirit. 26:19 If that comes across certainly then this is a part of the 26:24 "entering wedge. " 26:25 This is a part of helping people not just have life but 26:27 eternal life. 26:29 Yes, and you know we have a responsibility, I believe, as 26:33 Christian physicians and health professionals to help improve 26:38 and reform the practice of medicine of public health 26:43 in the world. 26:44 And so this research very definitely ties together 26:48 the insights that we have been... I know for myself, 26:52 for example I became a vegetarian not from science but 26:56 from becoming a Christian and reading Genesis 1:29. 26:59 I said well I want to follow the design, 27:01 I want to follow the plan. 27:02 We can now, using science, show the superiority of this 27:07 inspired counsel. 27:09 Are they looking at diabetes in the Marshal Islands? 27:11 Yes, diabetes is actually two to three times more prevalent 27:15 in the Marshal Islands than it is even in the United States. 27:19 And so it is a very serious problem there. 27:22 Thank you so much Dr. Kelly for joining us from your busy 27:26 research schedule and spending time with us making a larger 27:30 group of people know about what's happening. 27:32 Thank you. 27:33 It's really a privilege to be with you, Don, 27:35 and talk about this topic. 27:36 And thank you for joining us today 27:38 You've heard the good news that really God's plan has been 27:42 scientifically documented. 27:44 It maybe comes as no surprise. 27:46 But you've also heard how you can help. 27:48 If you want to be involved in the research call Loma Linda. 27:52 Say, "What's going on?" "Can I be involved?" 27:54 And we hope that you and those you influence will have 27:56 health for a lifetime. |
Revised 2014-12-17