The former US president cut cholesterol out of his diet for health reasons – and also lost 24 lb in the process.
Clinton underwent a quadruple heart bypass operation in 2004 but had to have two arterial stents fitted in February this year to increase blood flow in arteries blocked by cholesterol.
Doctors advised him to adopt a healthier, plant-based diet – cutting out meat and dairy entirely – to prevent any further build-up. Clinton spoke about his new virtually vegan lifestyle in September on CNN.
“Since 1986, several hundred people who have tried essentially a plant-based diet, not ingesting any cholesterol from any source, have seen their bodies start to heal themselves – break up the arterial blockage, break up the calcium deposits around the heart.
“Eighty-two per cent of the people who have done this have had this result, so I want to see if I can be one of them.”