Joel Kahn | |
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Born | May 19, 1959 |
Occupation | Cardiologist |
Joel K. Kahn (born May 19, 1959) is an American cardiologist, integrative medicine practitioner and promoter of plant-based nutrition.
Kahn obtained a BA in 1980 and MD in 1983 from the University of Michigan.[1] He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Wayne State University School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Medicine at Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine.[1] He is the founder of the Kahn Center for Cardiac Longevity in Bingham Farms, Michigan.[1] Kahn is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine.[2][3] He has authored articles for HuffPost and the Reader's Digest.[4][5]
Kahn has been a vegan since 1977.[2] He promotes a whole-food plant-based diet consisting of fruit, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains to prevent chronic disease.[6][7] During his lifetime he aims to prevent a million heart attacks.[8] He has commented that "there is no more effective way to prevent and reverse heart disease than eating a plant-based diet naturally low in oils, sugar, and salt."[9] He has noted from measuring the blood and skin levels of his patients that both omnivores and vegans are frequently low in vitamin B12, iodine, omega-3, taurine and vitamin K2 and that vitamin supplements can provide the correct amounts.[10] He advises his patients to support healthy nitric oxide levels by getting more exercise and juicing.[11] He has credited Caldwell Esselstyn and Dean Ornish as influencing his work.[12]
In 2015, Kahn and his wife Karen and son Daniel opened a vegan café, the GreenSpace Café in Ferndale, Michigan.[13] It closed in February 2020.[14][15]