The Lifestyle Heart Trial also included a regular exercise program as outlined in Figure 9: Exercise Program in the Lifestlye Heart Trial. The goal was to take a daily walk that is brisk enough to raise the heart rate in beats per minute to 50 to 80 percent of each individual's maximum heart rate.
The maximum heart rate and the target rate for exercise is calculated according to age. To illustrate this simple calculation, determine your own maximum rate and target rate as explained in Figure 10: Your Target Heart Rate Calculation for
Aerobic Exercise
An entry-level stress test was administered to each participant before the exercise program began. If a person had an abnormal EKG that indicated a shortage of blood supply to the heart during the test, the heart rate at the moment of the shortage was noted. The target beat rate for that person's exercise session would be 50 to 80 percent of that heart rate.24
Total Blood Cholesterol Reductions in the Lifestyle Heart Trial
There were two groups of subjects in the Lifestyle Heart Trial. The results presented thus far are for the group called the "Experimental Group." The other group was called the "Control Group." The control group followed a diet similar to the National Cholesterol Education Program diet as previously spelled out. A comparison of the total cholesterol of the two groups is shown in Figure 11: Total Cholesterol Changes in the Lifestyle Heart Trial.
This graph vividly illustrates the superiority of the vegetarian diet of the experimental group over the meat-eating diet of the control group. The vegetarian group had a 56 point reduction in cholesterol, or 24 percent, after one year; the meat-eating group had only a 13 point reduction, or six percent. This is what we would expect for the meat-eating group, in keeping with the typical six percent decrease attained on the National Cholesterol Education Program Diet. Can we be satisfied with so small a reduction when we know now that a vegetarian diet like the Lifestyle Heart Trial diet can provide such significant positive results?
LDL Reductions in the Lifestyle Heart Trial
What about the "bad" cholesterol, the LDL cholesterol that so easily oxidizes, damages the arteries, and produces coronary artery disease? Comparison of the two groups is depicted in Figure 12: LDL Cholesterol Changes in the Lifestyle Heart Trial.
After one year on the vegetarian diet and other lifestyle interventions, the LDL of the experimental group dropped 37 percent. The control group that was on a National Cholesterol Education Program-type diet only experienced a drop of five percent. This certainly helps to explain why there was such significant reversal of coronary artery disease in the vegetarian patients.
