Whole-Food  Plant-Based (WFPB)

Maturity of the WFPB Movement

The credentials of experts and the prestige of institutions are good indicators of quality:

Last updated December 2019. This is not an exhaustive list.

Research-scientist credentials

Hundreds of research scientists have contributed to the WFPB movement. The following are some of the most influential researchers in WFPB. All of them have authored multiple peer-reviewed research papers found on PubMed:

  • Dr. T. Colin Campbell PhD is Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University.
    He has an extremely impressive 60-year professional career in nutrition, biochemistry and toxicology which has included over 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding (mostly with NIH). Dr. Campbell has served on grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy, authored over 300 research papers and given hundreds of lectures around the world. He also served as Senior Science Advisor to the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), and Senior Science Advisor during the formative years of the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). AICR awarded him the 1998 Lifetime Achievement Award in Cancer Research. Dr. Campbell coined the term "whole-food, plant-based".
    Website: T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies
  • Dr. Dean Ornish M.D. is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.
    1993-2000 Ornish was a physician consultant to U.S. President Bill Clinton. 2001–02 Served on the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy. 2011 President Barack Obama appointed Ornish to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. Ornish is the recipient of the Moody C. Bettis Memorial Award for Excellence in Community Medicine. Dr. Ornish used the WFPB diet to reverse coronary heart disease and prostate cancer in patients.
    Website: Preventive Medicine Research Institute (PMRI)
  • Dr. John McDougall M.D.
    1986-2002 Launched a vegetarian dietary program at St. Helena Hospital in Napa Valley, California. 1999-2001 Ran a dietary program for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 2002 Began the McDougall Program. Dr. McDougall wrote the book, "The Starch Solution".
    Website: https://www.drmcdougall.com/
  • Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn M.D. cardiologist is the Director of Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute 2009-Present.
    1991 President of American Association of Endocrine Surgeons. 2016 American College of Lifestyle Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award. 2016 Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award. Dr. Esselstyn famously used the WFPB diet to reverse coronary heart disease in his patients.
    Website: Dr. Esselstyn's Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Program
  • Dr. Kim A. Williams, Sr., M.D. cardiologist is the head of the cardiology department at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
    2015 to 2016 President of "American College of Cardiology". He has served on the faculty of the Pritzker School of Medicine, the Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan. Dr. Williams is currently Editor in Chief of "International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention" (IJDRP). IJDRP's mission is to educate healthcare practitioners about plant-based nutrition.
  • Dr. Baxter D. Montgomery, M.D. cardiologist, F.A.C.C. is a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
    Founder and president of the Houston Cardiac Association (HCA). Clinical research in areas of cardiovascular diseases and cardiac rhythm disorders. Uses food-driven lifestyle intervention to reverse chronic conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, obesity and diabetes without medications or surgeries. Dr. Montgomery is the recipient of the Benjamin Spock Award for his work in disease reversal using nutritional interventions.
    Website: http://montgomeryheart.com/mfa
  • Dr. Robert Ostfeld, M.D., MSc. cardiologist is the founder and director of the Cardiac Wellness Program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
    He is an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Associate Director of the Cardiology Fellowship at Montefiore-Einstein. Dr. Ostfeld earned his MD from Yale University School of Medicine; and his Masters of Science in Epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. He earned the Outstanding Full Time Attending of the Year award at Montefiore for excellence in teaching medical residents; the Program Director's Award for dedicated service on behalf of the Montefiore-Einstein Cardiology Fellowship; and was elected to the Leo M. Davidoff Society at Einstein for outstanding achievement in the teaching of medical students. Dr. Ostfeld encourages patients to embrace a whole-foods plant-based diet.
    Website: http://www.einstein.yu.edu/faculty/9511/robert-ostfeld/
  • Dr. Neal Barnard, M.D., F.A.C.C. is an Adjunct Faculty, George Washington University School of Medicine.
    Editor in chief of the Nutrition Guide for Clinicians, a textbook made available to all U.S. medical students. Authored more than 90 scientific publications and 20 books. Received the Medical Society of the District of Columbia’s Distinguished Service Award. Dr. Barnard Led numerous research studies including a groundbreaking study of WFPB dietary interventions in type 2 diabetes funded by the National Institutes of Health.
    Website: https://www.pcrm.org/about-us/staff/neal-barnard-md-facc
  • Dr. Michael Greger, M.D. is a physician, author, and professional speaker on public health issues.
    Lectured at the Conference on World Affairs, the National Institutes of Health, and the International Bird Flu Summit. Founding member of American College Of Lifestyle Medicine. Teaches part of Dr. Campbell’s nutrition course at Cornell University. Dr. Greger presents WFPB evidence from the peer-review literature on his website and in his New York Times Best Seller book How Not To Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease. All speaking fees and proceeds Dr. Greger receives from the sale of his books and DVDs are donated to charity.
    Website: NutritionFacts.org.
  • Brenda Davis R.D. is the lead dietitian in a diabetes research project in Majuro, Marshall Islands.
    2011 to present, Scientific Advisor, Cancer Guidelines Advisory Committee for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. 2014 Distinguished Dietitian Award from the Dietitians For Professional Integrity. Davis is a featured WFPB speaker at nutrition, medical and health conferences throughout the world.
    Website: https://www.brendadavisrd.com

Research trends

More nutrition scientist are publishing WFPB studies every year.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=whole-food%20plant-based%5BTitle%2FAbstract%5D
Notice that the number of PubMed search results for "whole-food plant-based" have been increasing every year.

Institutions

Cleveland clinic Heart Disease Reversal Program

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/departments/wellness/integrative/disease-reversal
The Cleveland Clinic uses a low-fat WFPB diet to prevent and reverse heart disease.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is an American academic medical center and is consistently regarded as one of the top hospital systems in the world.

Kaiser Permanente

In 2013, a “Nutritional Update for Physicians” was published in the official journal of Kaiser Permanente.
http://www.thepermanentejournal.org/issues/2013/spring/5117-nutrition.html:

  • “Healthy eating may be best achieved with a plant-based diet, which we define as a regimen that encourages whole, plant-based foods and discourages meat, dairy products, and eggs as well as all refined and processed foods.”
  • “Too often, physicians ignore the potential benefits of good nutrition and quickly prescribe medications instead of giving patients a chance to correct their disease through healthy eating and active living. Physicians should therefore consider recommending a plant-based diet to all their patients, especially those with high blood pressure, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or obesity.”

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/what-diet-should-physicians-recommend/
Kaiser Permanente is the largest managed-care organization in the United States, which covers about 9,000,000 people with about 15,000 physicians.

Montefiore Health System

Montefiore Health System Serves Plant-Based Meals at Patient Beds.
https://www.forksoverknives.com/montefiore-health-system-plays-fok-and-serves-plant-based-vegan-meals/#gs.0kuy1m
Montefiore now offers plant-based vegan meals for inpatients. Forks Over Knives plays in patient rooms!

https://www.montefiore.org/cardiacwellnessprogram
The Cardiac Wellness Program aims to prevent and reverse heart disease with a whole-food plant-based diet.

https://www.montefiore.org/
Montefiore Health System [in New York] consists of eleven hospitals; a primary and specialty care network of more than 180 locations.

Medicare and other health insurance

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicare_(United_States)
Medicare is a national health insurance program in the United States. In 2018, Medicare provided health insurance for over 59.9 million people, mostly aged 65 and older.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/ornish-pritikin-get-medicare-okay-for-cardiac-rehab
Medicare announced in September 2010 that it will pay for intensive diet and exercise cardiovascular rehab programs offered by the Pritikin Center and by Dr. Dean Ornish. [Both use a WFPB diet.]

https://www.ornish.com/ornish-certified-site-directory/
Ornish-Certified Locations are in most states. The Ornish Reversal Program™ network is growing rapidly, including national partnerships with many commercial payers such as Aetna, Anthem, Blue Shield of California, HMSA and others. Some of these insurers are covering members who have risk factors for coronary heart disease, and other conditions such as diabetes and early stage prostate cancer.

https://www.pritikin.com/your-health/healthy-living/health-resorts-weight-loss-spas/1764-pritikin-medical-resort.html
Medicare approved.

American Medical Association

In June 2017, the American Medical Association passed a resolution that calls on U.S. hospitals to provide plant-based meals.

Health Policies, Healthy Food Options in Hospitals H-150.949
https://policysearch.ama-assn.org/policyfinder/detail/Healthy%20Food%20Options%20in%20Hospitals%20H-150.949?uri=%2FAMADoc%2FHOD.xml-0-627.xml

  1. Our AMA encourages healthy food options be available, at reasonable prices and easily accessible, on hospital premises.
  2. Our AMA hereby calls on US hospitals to improve the health of patients, staff, and visitors by:
    • providing a variety of healthy food, including plant-based meals, and meals that are low in fat, sodium, and added sugars
    • eliminating processed meats from menus

American College of Cardiology

Planting a Seed: Heart-Healthy Food Recommendations for Hospitals
https://www.acc.org/membership/sections-and-councils/prevention-of-cardiovascular-disease-section/about-us/section-sub-groups/features/hospital-food-program

  1. The menu will include a plant-based main dish that is low in fat, sodium, and added sugars.
  2. For lunches and dinners, at least 3 combined servings of vegetables and/or fruits will be included per meal (eg, two vegetables and a fruit).
  3. Trans fats will not be used.
  4. Processed meats will not be offered. "Processed meats" include bacon, sausage, ham, hot dogs, and deli meats.
  5. Grain products will be predominantly whole grains.
  6. Dessert will emphasize fruits.
  7. For a "Mediterranean" variant, olive oil may be added.

American College of Lifestyle Medicine

https://lifestylemedicine.org/What-is-Lifestyle-Medicine

  • ACLM believes in the adoption of a predominantly whole food, plant-based dietary lifestyle. That stance recognizes that a range of dietary practices have evidence showing healthy benefits. The common thread appears to be the intake of a large proportion of whole plant foods.
  • ACLM members are physicians, medical professionals in training, physician assistants, nurses, registered dieticians, physical therapists, pharmacists, health coaches, health care executives, health insurance actuaries, and workplace wellness professionals.

WFPB courses and certificates for health professionals

T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies

https://nutritionstudies.org/courses/continuing-education/
Continuing education for dietitians, physicians, physician assistants, nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists.

https://www.ecornell.com/certificates/nutrition/plant-based-nutrition/
Plant-based nutrition eCornell Certification Program.

https://www.ecornell.com/about-ecornell/
eCornell is Cornell University’s online learning platform.

Wayne State University School of Medicine

First Plant-Based Nutrition Course For Medical Students Completed In The US, 2019
https://raisevegan.com/first-plant-based-nutrition-course-for-medical-students-completed-in-the-us/
The Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit has just held its first whole-food plant-based nutrition course. 300 medical students have now completed the course. During the course, the medical students had the opportunity to meet with real patients who have reversed health conditions by transitioning to a whole-food vegan diet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_State_University_School_of_Medicine
The Wayne State University School of Medicine (WSUSOM) currently hosts an enrollment of more than 1,000 medical students in undergraduate medical education, master's degree, Ph.D., and M.D.-Ph.D. programs and courses encompass 14 areas of basic science. Wayne State University School of Medicine is affiliated with the hospitals of the Detroit Medical Center, and Henry Ford Health System.

Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute

https://www.rochesterlifestylemedicine.com/home-2/
Rochester Lifestyle Medicine Institute is a non-profit in Rochester New York. It provides WFPB nutrition courses to physicians and patients.

American Board of Lifestyle Medicine

https://lifestylemedicine.org/ACLM/Education/Certification/ACLM/Education/Board_Certification.aspx
Become Certified in Lifestyle Medicine Practice. Treat, Reverse, and Prevent Chronic Disease by addressing the root causes. You must be a licensed health professional.

University of Winchester

Plant-based nutrition: a sustainable diet for optimal health
https://www.winchester.ac.uk/news-and-events/events/event-items/plant-based-nutrition-a-sustainable-diet-for-optimal-health.php
A fully online, 6-week, distance learning course.

The Starch solution certification course

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/programs/starch-solution-certification-course/
The McDougall Program is a Continuing Education Provider (CEP 15494) for the California State Board of Nursing. The 35 CEUs awarded for the successful completion of this course may also apply to other disciplines (such as dietitians).