The Framingham Study

The Framingham Study is an incredibly long-term study that started in 1948 with 5000 residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, which is right outside of Boston. It was funded by the National Heart Institute, which was created right after WWII, and they were looking to find out why plaque developed in arteries and led to cardiovascular disease.

Death rates from cardiovascular disease had been increasing for five decades before the study, but unfortunately, not much was known about what led to heart problems. The founders of the study wanted to see what factors were leading certain people to cardiovascular disease and keeping others disease free. By checking in with 5000 people over the course of their lifetimes, they have been able to amass a huge amount of data about the risk factors for the disease. They've also added second and third generations of study participants to continue the study through the current century.

Today most people are well aware of the risk factors that can lead to cardiovascular disease, such as obesity, lack of physical activity, high cholesterol levels, smoking, and diabetes. We have this study partially to thank for the fact that this is such common knowledge. What's great about adapting a vegan diet is that it can help you to prevent many of those risk factors, or even reverse them after they have begun.

The study is still going on today, and has helped dramatically in our awareness of the risk factors for heart disease. Nowadays, they have added to the study the role of genetics in risk for heart disease, as well as adding more culturally diverse participants (the original participants were mostly Caucasian.)

Check out theframinghamstudy.org for more information about this long-standing scientific study.

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