Though the literature on sustainable diets has grown substantially in the past decade[ii] [iii] [iv] [v], and the concept has been expanded to the economic, ethical, and cultural aspects of food consumption[vi], consistent health analyses of commonly proposed diets are scarce[vii] and approaches are based primarily on health rather than or both health and environmental objectives with few exceptions[viii] [ix].

Reversive Medicine focuses on a sustainable dietary pattern that combines the creation of a food system that supplies healthy food for the prevention and reversal of human disease with a system of reducing its environmental impact and staying within planetary boundaries.

Reversive Medicine demonstrates that a plant-based structure can have multiple health, environmental, and economic benefits, toward a sustainably healthier humanity and planet that will benefit us all.

Imbalanced diets low in fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains, and high in red and processed meat are responsible for the greatest health burden worldwide. In addition to imbalanced diets, high consumption of red and processed meat and low consumption of fruits and vegetables are important diet-related risk factors contributing to substantial early mortality in most regions.

About 2 billion people are overweight and obese, 2 billion have nutritional deficiencies, and about 800 million are still suffering from hunger due to poverty and poorly developed food systems [xxx].

Animal-based food is implicated in many of the chronic degenerative diseases that afflict industrial and newly industrializing societies, particularly cardiovascular disease and cancer.

The pesticides used heavily in industrial agriculture are associated with elevated cancer risks for workers and consumers and are coming under greater scrutiny for their links to endocrine disruption and reproductive dysfunction [xxxi].

Since it fully treats the number one risk factor for death and disability¹ for the human body, Reversive Medicine has the ability to, among others:

Heart Disease
Reverse² the main cause of mortality of adults, ischemic heart disease, by regressing the atherosclerotic plaque in more than 80% of the people who adopt this therapeutic strategy⁵ and the blood flow of the coronary arteries improves in 99%⁶ of the cases.

Cerebrovascular Disease
Provide a direct protective effect against the risk of cerebrovascular disease, second cause of death in women and third in men⁵, diminishing its risk in all its forms by 22%⁷, as it was demonstrated in the renowned Framingham study.

Pulmonary Disease
Improve the results of the prognostic tests from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, third cause of death in women and fourth in men⁴, as well as increase the percentage of the forced expiratory volume (FEV₁)⁸, present less risk for COPD and reduce its symptoms⁹.

High Blood Pressure
Decrease the risk of high blood pressure –fifth cause of death in women and seventh in men⁴– from 15% to 5,8% and lower the blood pressure in only seven days, with 86% of the patients reducing or eliminating completely the need of medications¹⁰.

Type 2 Diabetes
Reduce significantly HBA1c in patients with type 2 diabetes –sixth and ninth cause of death in women and men respectively⁴–, diminishing the amount of medication needed in 29% of the intervention group in comparison with an increase of 8% in the control group¹¹. The results from the intervention group were so successful that the treatment was offered to the control group after 6 months.

Cancer
Eliminate a fundamental risk factor for the development of cancer –tenth cause of death in women–, diminishing the risk of colon cancer in 40%¹², reducing the serum levels of the PSA in prostate cancer in early stages after this therapeutic strategy ¹³ and significantly reducing the growth of tumor cells in breast cancer –8 times more– in comparison with the control group in experimental studies.

1. ​The state of US health, 1990-2010: burden of diseases, injuries, and risk factors.Murray, C.J., Abraham, J., Ali, M.K. Aug 14, 2013, JAMA, pp. 310(6):591-608. 
2. A way to reverse CAD?Essesltyn CB, et al. July 2014, The Journal of Family Practice, pp. 63(7):356-364b.
3. Salud en las Américas. Resumen:panorama regional y perfiles de país. Organización Panamericana de la Salud. Edición del 2017, publicación científica y técnica no.642
4. Boletín técnico. Estadísticas vitales – EEVV Año 2016-2017. Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (DANE), 28 de marzo de 2018. Bogotá, Colombia.
5. Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? (The Lifestyle Heart Trial). Ornish, D., Brown, S.E., Scherwitz, L.W., Billings, J.H., Armstrong, W.T., Ports, T.A., McLanahan, S.M., Kirkeeide, R.L., Brand, R.J., Gould, K.L.1990, Lancet, pp. 336:129–133.
6. Changes in myocardial perfusion abnormalities by positron emission tomography after long-term, intense risk factor modification.Gould, K.L., Ornish, D., Scherwitz, L., Brown, S., Edens, R.P., Hess, M.J., Mullani, N., Bolomey, L., Dobbs, F., Armstrong, W.T., Merritt, T., Ports, T., Sparler, S., Billings, J. 1995, JAMA, pp. 274:894–901. 
7. Protective effect of fruits and vegetables on development of stroke in men. Gillman M., et al. 1995; 273(14):1113-7.
8. Impact of dietary shift to higher-antioxidant foods in COPD: A randomised trial. Keranis et al. European Respiratory Journal. 2010;36(4): 774–780.
9. Soy consumption and risk of COPD and respiratory symptoms: a case-control study in Japan. Hirayama F, Lee AH, Binns CW, et al. Respiratory Research. 2009;10(1).
10. Effects of 7 days on an ad libitum low-fat vegan diet: the McDougall Program cohort. McDougall J, Thomas LE, McDougall C, Moloney G, Saul B, Finnell JS, Richardson K, Petersen KM. Nutr J. 2014 Oct 14;13:99.
11. The BROAD Study: A randomized, controlled trial using a whole food plant-based diet in the community for obesity, ischemic heart disease, or diabetes. Wright, N., Wilson, L., Duncan, B., McHugh, P. Nutrition & Diabetes, 2017. 7, e256.
12. Molecular mechanisms for chemoprevention of colorectal cancer by natural dietary compounds. Pan M, Lai C, Wu J, Ho C. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, 2011;55(1):32-45.
13. Intensive lifestyle changes may affect the progression of prostate cancer. Ornish D, Weidner G, Fair WR, et al. J Urol. 2005;174(3):1065-9.

Global Pollution from Livestock Production 
The food system is responsible for about a quarter of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions,[x] of which up to 80% are associated with livestock production [xi] [xii]. It occupies about 40% of the Earth’s surface [xiii] and uses 70% of all freshwater resources [xiv], and the over-application of fertilizers [xv] and pesticides [xvi] [xvii] has led to pollution of surface water [xviii] and groundwater and created dead zones in oceans [xix] [xx]. As a result, the global food system has contributed to the crossing of several of the proposed planetary boundaries [xxi] that attempt to define a safe operating space for humanity on a stable Earth system [xxii] [xxiii].

GHG Emissions and Dietary Changes
Without targeted dietary changes, the situation is expected to worsen as a growing and more wealthy global population adopts diets resulting in more GHG emissions [xxiv] and as the dietary transition toward more processed and high-value food products (in terms of cost and perceived value) continues in many regions of the world [xxv]. These dietary health risks are expected to worsen [xxvi] by increasing the human, social, and economic health burden from chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) associated with high body weight and unhealthy diets [xxvii].

Climate Change and Animal Products
Animal products are more damaging than every car, plane, train, and ship on the planet, combined [xxviii]. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that urgent and profound changes to the way we live must be made if we are to keep global temperature rise to no more than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Anything above this level will significantly worsen the risks of drought, floods, extreme heat, and poverty for hundreds of millions of people [xxix].

Unsustainable Agriculture
Meat production contributes disproportionately to these problems, in part because feeding grain to livestock to produce meat–instead of feeding grain directly to humans–involves a large energy loss, making animal agriculture more resource-intensive than other forms of food production. The proliferation of factory-style animal agriculture creates environmental and public health concerns, including pollution from the high concentration of animal wastes and the extensive use of antibiotics, which may compromise their effectiveness in medical use.

Reversive Medicine aims to educate and empower the global population about the optimal lifestyle structure thorough sustainable human habits, starting with a whole food, plant-based diet.

Changing diets may be more effective than technological mitigation options for avoiding climate change [xxxii] and may be essential to avoid negative environmental impacts such as major agricultural expansion [xxxiii] and global average temperature rise of 2°C [xxxiv] while ensuring access to safe and affordable food for an increasing global population [xxxv] [xxxvi].  In the absence of dedicated strategies or changes in demand, many of these human and environmental impacts are expected to intensify as demand for meat and dairy increases and the global population grows from 7 billion to a predicted 10 billion in the next 30 years [xlvii].

Reductions in meat consumption and other dietary changes would ease pressure on land use [xxxvii] [xxxviii] and reduce GHG emissions [xxxix] [xl] [xli] [xlii] [xliii] [xliv] [xlv] [xlvi].

It is our goal to reverse or halt the progression of human and planetary disease through clear and specific structures for the global community based on the extensive body of scientific data that demonstrates that a plant-based dietary pattern is the most comprehensive way to achieve human and environmental health.

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