Exploring the association between eating a whole food plant-based diet and reducing chronic diseases: a critical literature synthesis

Nearly 70% of the population of the United States is at increased risk for chronic illness because of dietary related health conditions. Half of all adults, 117 million people, have one or more preventable diet associated chronic diseases. The current state of the nation’s health is a serious public health concern as 1.5 million Americans die annually due to conditions related to dietary intake. The risks for chronic disease, such as obesity, are greater for segments of the population unable to afford healthier, nutritionally-dense food, especially low populations with low socioeconomic status and communities of color. This has created serious and significant health inequities. In the United States, healthcare spending accounts for more than 17% of the US economy. Chronic diseases, related conditions, and the health risk behaviors that cause them now account for most health care costs making these diseases a significant public health concern. Eighty-six percent of all health care spending in 2010 was for people with one or more chronic medical conditions. A literature search was conducted in SCOPUS and PubMed to address the following re-search question: Is there an association between eating a whole food plant-based diet and reduced rates of chronic diseases? This thesis examines the effects of eating a WFPB diet on the risk of chronic diseases and the prevention and mitigation of chronic diseases after diagnosis. Increasing the dietary intake of whole plant-based diet may help to prevent, reduce or even reverse certain chronic illnesses in the population. A diet consisting largely of unprocessed or primarily unprocessed healthy vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes, and beans might enable the US population to address the hyper-endemic level of chronic illnesses that have resulted from more than 40 years of eating the Western or Standard American Diet (SAD). These results have public health significance because they may help future researchers, public health and medical professionals, and policymakers as they look toward addressing and reducing the level of diet-related illnesses among the population, especially those who regularly experience health inequities

Measurements of electrode advance. advancement and retraction for printed and machined microdrive.

<p>A 250 um glass electrode was loaded into the center position of the electrode grid. The drive was placed in rig that allowed us to measure the electrode travel as we turned the advancer. The electrode was advanced and retracted five times. Travel measurements were taken every 20 turns. Solid line shows data from the advancing phase and the dotted line shows data from the retracting phase for the printed (A) and machined version (B) of the microdrive. At the start of each cycle we realigned the electrode position to zero.</p

Bill-of-materials for off-the shelf metal parts.

a<p>Now part of AmazonSupply, <a href="http://www.amazonsupply.com/" target="_blank">http://www.amazonsupply.com/</a>.</p>b<p>Part number on AmazonSupply.</p

Sample costs for 3-d printed parts.

a<p>Jan 2013 cost in USD rounded to nearest dollar. The service used charges $10 minimum per part.</p

Schematic of electrode advancing tower assembly.

<p>(A) Complete tower assembly showing detail of shuttle that carries the electrode. (B) Exploded view showing tower components. From top to bottom, an assembled tower consists of: sleeve, lower-adapter, motor holder, rails and lead-screw, shuttle, bearing and tower base. Not shown are the two 0–80 nuts that press fit into the shuttle. The sleeve and the bearing hold the lead-screw assembly in place, preventing it from sliding along the tower. The manual advancer (not shown) is keyed to mate with the lower-adapter and is used to turn it, thereby rotating the lead-screw.</p

Schematic of complete PriED assembly, showing stacked base on chamber with one tower attached.

<p>(A) Top-down view of micro-drive highlighting the grid (1) and pad (2) where each tower attaches to the base. (B) Isometric view of the micro-drive. The sleeve (3), rails (4), notch that aligns with the grid (5), and set screw that attaches to the chamber (6). (C) Side-view highlighting the upper (7) and lower (8) base of the micro-drive when attached to the chamber (9). (D) Cut-away view showing tower (10), shuttle (11), lead screw (12), and upper adaptor (13).</p

Weights for 3-d printed parts.

<p>Weights for 3-d printed parts.</p

PriED in use.

<p>(A) The electrode drive is shown with the single-piece base and three towers in the fully retracted position at the start of a recording session. The towers are carrying metal-in-glass electrodes that are positioned in three adjacent grid holes. The tower heights allow for 70 mm electrode travel which enables the towers to be used for deep brain recordings. The manual advancers are seen protruding from the tops of the towers.</p

Photos displaying both manual and motorized PriED configurations.

<p>(A) Manual version with 3-d printed advancer. (B) Motorized version, showing stepper-motor, gear reduction box, and microcontroller. PriED is easily switched from manual to motorized configuration by removing the manual advancer and sleeve from the tower and sliding the motor in their place. The motor is then held in place by tightening the same set screw that formerly held the sleeve.</p

Comparison of extracellular recording using PriED and a similarly designed professionally machined microdrive.

<p>Recordings were made using 700–900 k FHC tungsten electrodes. (A) Sample recording using the stacked base design and using a cannula to pass the electrode through the dura to the anterior cingulate cortex of an awake NHP. (B) Sample recording using a professionally machined version of the microdrive recording from the basal forebrain in an awake NHP. Both panels show two excerpts from the recordings: 500 action potentials from the start of recording (near time 0s) and 500 action potentials from the end of the session (around 3500s). The insets show details of the recorded action potentials.</p