According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 36 million people die each year from chronic diseases. Yet many scientists and doctors believe that most of these diseases are not only preventable but are largely reversible. So what is going on? Garnet, a do-it-all mom with a full-time job, lands in the hospital with type-2 diabetes. She fears her regimen of medications will lead her down a grim path to dialysis and early death. Charles, a devoted family man, is stunned to learn not only that he has heart disease but that the blockages are so severe his surgeon refuses to operate. Charles will do whatever it takes to be around to see his children grow up. John fears having his chest cut open (heart bypass) since he believes is a band-aid, not a cure. But he’s conflicted, not wanting to upset his family who thinks he’ll die without the surgery. Garnet, Charles, and John all have the tenacity to seek expert advice beyond their traditional doctors’ offerings. Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic is director of the longest-running study in the world showing a diet of plants can reverse heart disease. Yet, amazingly, the hospital refuses to offer the nutritional approach to its patients. If cardiovascular disease, the deadliest disease in the world, is largely reversible, why isn’t this message taken seriously? Could be because the USDA refuses to dispense any advice that will hurt the food industry? Or maybe it’s because the food industry is in the business of stifling the truth about the diet-disease connection. Dr. Luise Light knows this firsthand. While designing a nutrition course for the Red Cross, she was offered a bribe of 60,000 in cash by a major food company to keep silent about the relationship between diet and cancer. When USDA staff devised the first food pyramid in the 1970s, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains took center-stage. But when the food industry (the meat, dairy, and egg producers) heard of the plan, they convinced the Secretary of Agriculture to scrap the pyramid created by the experts based on research. While we aren’t immediately aware of it, all of these outside factors create an environment where the concerns about profit, marketability, and status-quo far outweigh concerns about health. Using humor, narration, and original animation, CHOW DOWN interweaves pathos and comedy to create a humanistic portrait of an everyday struggle that can have life or death consequences. The diet may be too difficult for some, but that’s a decision each person should make for him or herself. As Dr. Hans Diehl proclaims, “I think it is morally questionable for organizations to say, 'I know people will not do it and therefore we withhold scientifically sound information’.”