Background:

In the January 97 issue of "Health & Beyond", part 3 of the Ward Nicholson
interview, Ward mentions that a person dropped out of M2M after developing
congestive heart disease. Later information from that person indicated that
a likely cause for the heart disease was following a diet that was too high
in fruit, for a long (?) time.

In September of 96, T.C. Fry passed away from the effects of congestive heart
disease (a blood clot that became a stroke, I believe).

So we have two cases above that are very difficult to explain away, if one
believes the fruitarian party line that fruit diets are the "best". Indeed,
fruitarian diets are so cleansing that one would never expect a "mucus
disease" like congestive heart disease (caused by cholesterol - 'mucus' -
deposited in the arteries/veins) to afflict anyone who has a high % fruit
diet.

How can we explain this? Two potential explanations come to mind. It should
be mentioned that the explanations below, and this post, are somewhat
speculative in nature, due to the limited information available. They are
presented to promote possible understanding of the negative effects of a
fruitarian diet, and to stimulate discussion.

Explanation 1: Lots of Cheating/Backsliding/Exceptions

One explanation is that the individuals involved really did not follow the
fruitarian diet well, but instead they cheated/backslide/made lots of
exceptions. That is, they engaged in the eating disorder behavior patterns
of eating in secret and lying about it (common behavior among fruitarians). In
this scenario, the subjects would eat "bad" foods, like cooked meat (lots of
cholesterol), or junk food which is loaded with hydrogenated oil, which
stimulates cholesterol production.  The effect of this cheating would be to
create a lot of cholesterol, which in the long run, might lead to congestive
heart disease.

The problem with this explanation is that, because fruit diets are so cleansing,
it would take a great deal of cheating, over a very long time, to produce this
effect. That is, stopping cheating for even a short time would allow the body
to quickly cleanse out much of the cholesterol. A raw foods diet, if followed
faithfully, can dramatically reduce serum cholesterol in a very short time -
as little as 3 weeks. I recall reading of a man who had cholesterol readings
over 1000 (!!), whose cholesterol dropped to around 200 after only 2-3
weeks on living foods, at the Hippocrates Institute.

Also, this explanation suggests that the subjects are not honest about their
diet. I don't know about the first subject, but assume that person is honest.
As for the honesty of T.C. Fry, readers can make their own judgements!

One thing that should be clarified here. Cheating or backsliding is common
in fruitarianism because: 1) fruit diets are deficient nutritionally, and
do not provide physical or psychological satisfaction, 2) modern fruit contains
unnaturally high levels of sugar, causing problems with sugar addiction and
overeating, and 3) they are very physically cleansing, and 4) because of 1-3,
cravings are a serious problem in fruitarianism. These strong cravings often
lead to binge eating and eating "bad" foods - cheating/backsliding/exceptions.
Then, because fruitarianism is a major part of their self-identity, the
cheater lies about it.

Explanation 2: Fruit diets can induce heart disease in susceptible people.

Because high % fruit diets are so cleansing, one immediately asks how can
a cleansing, no-cholesterol, mucus reducing diet cause one to develop congestive
heart disease? The key to this question lies in the well-know ability of
fruitarian diets to produce diabetes-like syndrome ("pre-diabetes" as some
call it). It is well known that high % fruit diets can produce many of the
initial symptoms of diabetes: frequent urination, frequent thirst, intermittent
blurred vision, pains/burning in the hands/feet/knees, mood swings and
depression (sugar highs/blues), fatigue.

At this point some background information is relevant. In this post, all
discussion of diabetes is specifically limited to type II, adult-onset
diabetes. In type II diabetes, there is NO shortage of insulin - in fact there
is often a surplus (type I, juvenile diabetes, there is a shortage of insulin).
What appears to be happening in type II diabetes is that the body's insulin
receptors somehow become de-sensitized to insulin, and are much less
receptive to it. One explanation is that the body is reacting to the insulin
hormone in the same way it would react to injected steroids: the body develops
a tolerance (of sorts) to the higher levels of steroids, which is part of the
reason steroid therapy often is tapered off, rather than having an abrupt
end. When the insulin receptors are de-sensitized, they will be less efficient,
and there will be excess sugar (and excess insulin!) in the blood.

So the hypothesis is that the excessive sugar intake that comes from a
fruitarian diet, produces excessive levels of insulin, which de-sensitizes
the body's insulin receptors. In short, the fruitarian diet can induce
what is effectively type II diabetes in susceptible individuals.

If the hypothesis is correct, then we have a logical explanation for how
fruitarianism can induce heart disease. Diabetes is not just a disease of
the sugar metabolism - that is the first part. The second part is that diabetes
becomes a disease of fat/lipid metabolism as well. Diabetics are at very high
risk of heart disease because of this, and it can also lead to blindness
(diabetic retinopathy: cholesterol deposits interfere with circulation in the
retina, the body tries to heal it by growing new capillaries, resulting in
proliferative diabetic retinopathy, which can cause blindness if it is not
treated.)

Basically, this theory simply notes that:
1) the initial effects of fruitarian diet are the same as the initial
symptoms of type II diabetes
2) the underlying mechanism may be the same: fruitarianism, by repeatedly
stimulating insulin production, may de-sensitize the insulin receptors,
leading to de-facto type II diabetes
3) therefore, it seems reasonable that the long term effects of type II
diabetes - heart disease (most common effect) - can occur in those who
follow a fruitarian diet long term, as the fruitarian diet induces de-facto
type II diabetes.

I hope the above stimulates discussion; it is an interesting hypotheses (to
me). I hope you found it interesting as well. Comments are welcome...

Tom Billings
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