Richard Ruhling, MD, MPH, an 83-year-old physician board-certified in Internal Medicine since 1973, distinguishes between medical care and healthcare, stating that the former focuses on disease diagnosis and pharmaceutical treatment while the latter should emphasize prevention through lifestyle. Ruhling taught Health Science at Loma Linda University, a community featured in National Geographic's November 2005 cover story "Secrets of Living Longer" for its residents' exceptional longevity.
Loma Linda University received $40 million from the National Institutes of Health to study why the community lived seven years longer than other non-smoking groups. Ruhling attributes this longevity to the health writings of Ellen White, the university's founder, whose principles were summarized about 60 years ago by Clive McCay, former Professor of Nutrition at Cornell University, as "no better over-all guide." White warned against tobacco as a 'malignant poison' in 1864, a century before science linked it to cancer in 1964.
White opposed teaching drugs in her school, writing in 1905 that "drugs do not cure disease" but often "only change the form and location of the disease." Despite her objections, administrators added pharmacology to gain American Medical Association accreditation. Ruhling says pharmaceutical companies began calling medical care "healthcare" in the mid-1970s as an advertising strategy, which media perpetuated despite medical care's lack of focus on healthy habits that UCLA's Dr. Lester Breslow said could add 11 years to life.
The Journal of the American Medical Association reported on April 15, 1998, that 106,000 hospital deaths resulted from Adverse Drug Reactions defined as "properly prescribed and administered." The Western Journal of Medicine in June 2000 reported 199,000 outpatient deaths from Adverse Drug Events. Combined, these 305,000 deaths would make medical care the third leading cause of death, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention omitted these studies from their yearly Top Ten Causes of Death list.
Archives of Internal Medicine reported a study from 1998-2005 showing deaths increased 2.7-fold. Applying this increase to the 305,000 deaths yields 824,000 deaths, potentially making medical care the leading cause of death in the U.S. Ruhling claims the CDC, which he says has financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies making billions, continues listing heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, and cholesterol as top causes despite their strong dietary links.
Ruhling experienced pharmaceutical consequences personally when his wife died from complications after taking an antibiotic for a bladder infection. He later remarried a nurse whose former husband died from the same antibiotic. Ruhling says doctors receive little nutrition or herbal medicine training because drug companies cannot patent natural products for profit.
After visiting U.S. Senate offices with medical journal articles about drug-related deaths, one senator told Ruhling, "You are wasting your time…they own us," referring to pharmaceutical donations to re-election campaigns. If the 2.7-fold death increase has continued since 2005, millions may now die yearly from properly prescribed drugs.
Ruhling advocates for plant-based diets like that of his teacher, renowned cardiac surgeon Ellsworth Wareham, who lived to 104 and helped train surgery residents until age 95. Ruhling claims dietary changes can show benefits within 10 days and that eating the main meal in the evening contributes to weight problems since calories store rather than burn during sleep. He also cites a New England Journal of Medicine study from June 25, 1981, finding a "strong association" between coffee drinking and pancreatic cancer, echoing White's 1887 warning about tea, coffee, opium, and tobacco causing "disease of every stripe and type."
Ruhling maintains excellent health at 83 after following these principles for 70 years. His book Health Happiness and Destiny received a 5-star review from Amazon's Top 100 Hall of Fame reviewer Grady Harp, MD, and is available in a holiday gift pack with a bonus video.
