Adventist Health Studies - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Adventist Health Studies (AHS) is a series of long-term medical research

Biomedical research

Biomedical research , in general simply known as medical research, is the basic research, applied research, or translational research conducted to aid and support the body of knowledge in the field of medicine...

projects of Loma Linda University

Loma Linda University

Loma Linda University is a Seventh-day Adventist coeducational health sciences university located in Loma Linda, California, United States. The University comprises eight schools and the Faculty of Graduate Studies...

with the intent to measure the link between lifestyle, diet

Diet (nutrition)

In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...

, disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

and mortality

Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in a population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time...

of Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventist Church

The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...

.

Due in part to their unique dietary habits, Seventh-day Adventists have a lower risk than other Americans of certain diseases.
This provides a special opportunity to answer scientific questions about how diet and other health habits affect the risk of suffering from many chronic diseases. name="about">

Two studies on Adventist health involving 24,000 and 34,000 California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

n Adventists were conducted over the last 40 years.
Although not sponsored by the Adventist church itself, the church is supportive of the studies.
These studies have been the subject of significant national media coverage on programs such as ABC News: World News Tonight
World News with Charles Gibson
ABC World News is the flagship daily evening program of ABC News, the news division of the American Broadcasting Company television network in the United States. Currently, the weekday editions are anchored by Diane Sawyer and the weekend editions are anchored by David Muir. The program has been...

, Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

and in the National Geographic feature article "Longevity: The Secrets of a Long Life". name="natgeo">

There is a third larger ongoing study that includes Adventists throughout the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

and Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

Adventist Mortality Study

The first major study of Adventists begun in 1960, has become known as the Adventist Mortality Study. Consisting of 22,940 California Adventists, it entailed an intensive 5-year follow-up and a more informal 25-year follow-up.

"...[The] Adventist Mortality Study (1960–1965) did indicate that Adventist men lived 6.2 years longer than non-Adventist men in the concurrent American Cancer Society
American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is the "nationwide community-based voluntary health organization" dedicated, in their own words, "to eliminating cancer as a major health problem by preventing cancer, saving lives, and diminishing suffering from cancer, through research, education, advocacy, and...

Study and Adventist women had a 3.7-year advantage over their counterparts. These statistics were based on life table analyses." name="AMS">

Specifically, comparing death rates of Adventist compared to other Californians:

Death rates from all cancers was 60% lower for Adventist men and 76% lower for Adventist women
Lung cancer 21% lower
Colorectal cancer 62% lower
Breast cancer 85% lower
Coronary heart disease 66% lower for Adventist men, 98% lower for Adventist women

Adventist Health Study 1 (AHS-1)

An additional study (1974–1988) involved approximately 34,000 Californian Adventists over 25 years of age. Unlike the mortality study, the purpose was to find out which components of the Adventist lifestyle give protection against disease.

The data from the study have been studied for more than a decade and the findings are numerous – linking diet to cancer and coronary heart disease.

Specifically

On average Adventist men live 7.3 years longer and Adventist women live 4.4 years longer than other Californians.
Five simple health behaviors promoted by the Seventh-day Adventist Church for more than 100 years (not smoking
Smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco or cannabis, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them...

, eating a plant based diet
Vegetarianism
Vegetarianism encompasses the practice of following plant-based diets , with or without the inclusion of dairy products or eggs, and with the exclusion of meat...

, eating nuts
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...

several times per week, regular exercise
Physical exercise
Physical exercise is any bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons including strengthening muscles and the cardiovascular system, honing athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, as well as for the purpose of...

and maintaining normal body weight
Body weight
The term body weight is used in daily English speech as well as in the contexts of biological and medical sciences to describe the mass of an organism's body. Body weight is measured in kilograms throughout the world, although in some countries it is still measured in pounds or stones and pounds...

) increase life span up to 10 years.
Increasing consumption of red and white meat was associated with an increase of colon cancer
Colorectal cancer
Colorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus....

.
Eating legumes was protective for colon cancer.
Eating nuts several times a week reduces the risk of heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

by up to 50%.
Eating whole meal bread instead of white bread reduced non-fatal heart attack risk by 45%.
Drinking 5 or more glasses of water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...

a day may reduce heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

by 50%.
Men who had a high consumption of tomatoes reduced their risk of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...

by 40%.
Drinking soy milk more than once daily may reduce prostate cancer by 70%.

Adventist Health Air Pollution Study (ASHMOG)

This is a sub-study of AHS-1. It began in 1976 and is still being conducted. It includes 6,328 Adventists from California.
The study was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The study linked the effects of various indoor and outdoor pollutants with respiratory diseases and lung cancer.

Adventist Health Study 2 (AHS-2)

The current study which began in 2002 with a goal of 125,000 Adventists continues to explore the links between lifestyle, diet and disease among the broader base of Seventh-day Adventists in America and Canada. As of May 2006 it had an enrollment of 96,741.

Dr. Gary Fraser with a team of researchers from the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University is conducting the study which is funded by the National Cancer Institute

National Cancer Institute

The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...

.
In July 2011, National Institutes of Health awarded AHS-2 a $5.5 million 5-year grant to continue the study.

While the study is on-going, some findings have been reported:

"The 5-unit BMI difference between vegans and nonvegetarians indicates a substantial potential of vegetarianism to protect against obesity. Increased conformity to vegetarian diets protected against risk of type 2 diabetes after lifestyle characteristics and BMI were taken into account. Pesco- and semi-vegetarian diets afforded intermediate protection."
"A vegetarian dietary pattern is associated with a more favorable profile of MRFs and a lower risk of MetS."

Adventist Religion & Health Study (AHRS)

This sub-study of AHS-2 began in 2006 and is funded by the National Institute on Aging

National Institute on Aging

The National Institute on Aging ' is a division of the U.S. National Institutes of Health , located in Baltimore, Maryland.The NIA leads a broad scientific effort to understand the nature of aging and to extend the healthy, active years of life...

.
It is also known as the Biopsychosocial Religion and Health Study (BRHS).

The study has exceeded its goal of 10,000 participants with 11,835 subjects as of 2008.

External links

Loma Linda University Adventist Health Studies
"Adventist Health Studies: Past, Present and Future" by Gary E. Fraser. Adventist Review June 25, 2009

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