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Plants are not ‘the answer to everything’, according to an acclaimed vegan doctor.
Surgeon Dr. Garth Davis made the comment in a recent YouTube video titled Vegan Wars – where he called for ‘more nuance in debating health literature’.
Vegan doctors
It comes after fellow vegan doctor Michael Greger received criticism after claiming there is no such thing as left main disease. Dr. Greger was accused of ‘cherry picking’ his data.
However, Dr. Davis says people on both sides of the argument are ‘brilliant, great, and want what’s best for humanity’. He also praised Dr. Greger’s compassion, sharing an anecdotal story of him looking after somebody at an event and taking them to hospital.
“There is a legitimate problem with making it sound like plants are the absolute answer to everything,” he then added.
“Those problems are twofold. Number one for the patient. Because, if they think that they can avoid medical therapy just by eating plants, they could be avoiding a potentially very helpful thing to help live longer and alleviate symptoms.”
Plant-based diet
Dr. Davis then concluded: “I treat people with medicines… even though I also treat people with diet.
“This is not to say I don’t believe that a plant-based diet can prevent disease, obviously. I just don’t believe it’s going to in everybody.
“And, I do believe there’s a role for pharmaceuticals and there’s a role for surgery and there’s a role for western medicine. Otherwise, I wouldn’t practice western medicine.”
Speaking to Plant Based News about the video, Dr. Greger replied: “I’m a big fan of Garth and his wonderful work. [It’s] nice to see someone try to cut through the grandstanding.”
You can watch the full video here
