Stanford may not immediately come to mind as a powerhouse in diet studies, ) ) but the fact is that many of its strongest medical research areas, like ) ) cardiovascular science and endocrinology, have naturally led to investigations ) ) of what people eat and how it affects their hearts:
• In the mid-1960s, cardiovascular specialist John Farquhar did ) ) pioneering work on obesity, diet, diabetes and fat metabolism. With endocrinologist ) ) Gerald Reaven, he discovered that type 2 diabetes can follow from insulin ) ) resistance—a sluggish response to insulin.
• In the late 1960s, Farquhar established one of the nation’s ) ) first clinics to focus on the role of exercise, nutrition and lowering ) ) of cholesterol in preventing heart disease. It later came to be known ) ) as the Stanford Center for Research in Disease Prevention.
• In 1971, a trial at Stanford and 11 other centers showed that ) ) heart disease could be prevented by lowering cholesterol.
• In the 1980s, researcher William Haskell demonstrated that a combination ) ) of diet and exercise with cholesterol-lowering drugs could halt or even ) ) reverse clogging of arteries.
• In 1988, cardiovascular researcher John Cooke discovered that ) ) the dietary supplement L-arginine helps protect ) ) against heart disease.
• In the 1990s, Reaven identified the heart-threatening condition ) ) known as syndrome X and showed that it strikes ) ) even those who are not obese.
For more: Stanford Center ) ) for Research in Disease Prevention
