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Flaws in the Vegan Bible
The year 2006 marked an event that rocked the world of nutrition (as well as the walls of Whole Foods): the release of The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Printed by a small publishing company known for other scientific masterpieces such as The Psychology of the Simpsons and You Do Not Talk About Fight Club, Campbell’s book quickly hit the word-of-mouth circuit and skyrocketed towards bestseller status, with sales exceeding half a million copies to date.
The premise is that all animal foods—ranging from Chicken McNuggets to a fillet of wild-caught salmon—are responsible for modern ailments like heart disease and cancer. Such diseases, the book claims, can generally be prevented or even cured by shunning animal products and eating a diet of whole, unprocessed plant foods instead.
Although this startling thesis was hard for some to swallow, the book appeared credible due to its exhaustive references and the author’s laundry list of credentials—including a PhD from Cornell, authorship of over three hundred scientific papers, and decades of direct research experience. Perhaps not surprisingly, The China Study was quickly absorbed into the vegan community as a bible of sorts—the final word on the harmfulness of animal foods, and indisputable proof that a plant-only diet is best for mankind. To the exasperation of meat lovers everywhere (especially those who enjoy arguing for sport), once lively debates with vegans were now extinguished with one simple phrase: Just read The China Study!
But despite the book’s black-and-white declarations about animal products—and its seemingly well-referenced arguments—The China Study is not a work of scientific vigor. As we’ll see in this article, the book’s most widely repeated claims, particularly involving Campbell’s cancer research and the results of the China-Cornell-Oxford Project, are victims of selection bias, cherry picking, and woefully misrepresented data.
Does Animal Protein Cause Cancer?
The seeds of animal-food doubt were first planted early in Campbell’s career, while he was working in the Philippines on a project to help combat malnutrition. A colleague informed him of a startling trend: liver cancer was plaguing affluent Filipinos at a much higher rate than their less-wealthy counterparts—a phenomenon that, despite a slew of other lifestyle differences, Campbell believed was linked to their higher intake of animal protein.1 Bolstering his suspicions, Campbell also learned of a recent study from India showing that a high protein intake spurred liver cancer in rats, while a low protein intake seemed to prevent it.2 Intrigued by this gem of little-known research, Campbell decided to investigate the role of nutrition in cancer growth himself—an endeavor that ended up lasting several decades and producing over one hundred publications (none of which pertained to Fight Club).3
The China Study relayed Campbell’s findings with powerful simplicity. In a series of experiments, Campbell and his team exposed rats to very high levels of aflatoxin—a carcinogen produced by mold that grows on peanuts and corn—and then fed them a diet containing varying levels of the milk protein casein. In study after study, the rats eating only 5 percent of their total calories as casein remained tumor-free, while the rats eating 20 percent of their calories as casein developed abnormal growths that marked the beginning of liver cancer. As Campbell described, he could control cancer in those rodents “like flipping a light switch on and off,” simply by altering the amount of casein they consumed.4
Despite these provocative findings, Campbell wasn’t ready to declare all protein a threat to public health and stamp the peanut butter aisle with Mr. Yuk stickers. Animal protein, it turned out, seemed to be uniquely villainous. In several of his experiments, when the aflatoxin-exposed rats were fed wheat protein or soy protein in place of casein, they didn’t develop any cancer—even at the 20 percent level that proved so detrimental with casein.5 It seemed that those plant proteins were not only PETA-approved, but also the least likely to turn rat livers into tumor factories.
These findings led Campbell to his firm and famous conclusion: that all animal protein—but not plant protein—could uniquely promote cancer growth. Out with the steak, in with the tofu! But as several critics have pointed out,6,7 that proclamation required a few somersaults of logic (and maybe some cartwheels of delusion). The effects of casein—particularly isolated casein, separated from other components of dairy that often work synergistically—can’t be generalized to all forms of milk protein, much less all forms of animal protein. An impressive number of studies shows that the other major milk protein, whey, consistently suppresses tumor growth rather than promoting it, likely due to its ability to raise glutathione levels.8,9 Another of Campbell’s own studies suggests that fish protein acts as a cancer-promoter when paired with corn oil, but not when paired with fish oil—highlighting the importance of dietary context (and the neverending terribleness of vegetable oils).10
And the kicker: one of Campbell’s most relevant experiments—which sadly received no mention in The China Study—showed that when wheat gluten is supplemented with lysine to make a complete protein, it behaves exactly like casein to promote tumor growth.11 This means that animal protein doesn’t have some mystical ability to spur cancer by mere virtue of its origin in a sentient creature—just that a full spectrum of amino acids provide the right building blocks for growth, whether it be of malignant cells or healthy ones. And as any vegan who’s been asked “Where do you get your protein?” for the eight hundredth time will answer, even a plant-only diet supplies complete protein through various mixtures of legumes, grains, nuts, vegetables, and other approved vegan fare. Theoretically, a meal of rice and beans would provide the same so-called cancer-promoting amino acids that animal protein does. Indeed, Campbell’s experiments lose their relevance in the context of a normal, real-world diet opposed to the purified menu of casein, sugar, and corn oil his rats received.
But that’s only the tip of the proteinaceous iceberg. In his September 2010 article, “The Curious Case of Campbell’s Rats,”12 Chris Masterjohn ventured beyond the well lit pages of The China Study to explore the dark alleys of Campbell’s publications firsthand. And what he found regarding the low-protein rats was a far cry from the sunshine-and-lollipops descriptions we read in the book. Although rats consuming a high-casein diet were indeed developing liver cancer as Campbell described, the ones in the low-casein groups—which were portrayed as downright bright-eyed and shiny-coated in The China Study—were suffering an even worse fate. Campbell’s research actually showed that a low-protein diet increases the acute toxicity of aflatoxin, resulting in cell genocide and premature death. Because protein deficiency prevents the liver from successfully doing its detoxifying duties, less aflatoxin gets converted into cancer-causing metabolites, but the end result is massive (and eventually deadly) tissue damage.
Even the research from India that jump-started Campbell’s interest in the diet-cancer link showed that rats on a low-casein diet were dying with disturbing frequency, while the high-protein rats—tumored as they may have been—were at least staying alive.13 (It’s surprising, then, that The China Study promotes a plant-based diet to prevent cancer, when death is equally effective and requires fewer shopping trips.)
More clues for understanding the casein-cancer research come from another Indian study—this one published in the late 1980s, and examining the effects of protein in aflatoxin-exposed monkeys instead of rats.14 As with Campbell’s experiments, the monkeys were fed diets containing either 5 percent or 20 percent casein, but with one important difference: instead of being slammed with an astronomically (and unrealistically) high dose of aflatoxin, the monkeys were exposed to lower, daily doses—mimicking a real-world situation where aflatoxin is consumed frequently in small amounts from contaminated foods. In a fabulous case of scientific switcheroo, this study showed that it was the low-protein monkeys who got cancer, while the high-protein monkeys rejoiced in their tumorlessness.
This apparent paradox highlights a major problem in Campbell’s rat research: the level of aflatoxin exposure plays a critical role in how protein affects cancer growth. When the aflatoxin dose is sky high, animals eating a low-protein diet don’t get cancer because their cells are too busy dying en masse, while animals eating a higher protein diet are still consuming enough dietary building blocks for the growth of cells—whether healthy or cancerous. When the aflatoxin dose is more moderate, animals eating a low-protein diet develop cancer while their higher-protein counterparts remain in mighty fine health.
In a nutshell, the animal protein fear-mongering in The China Study stems from wildly misconstrued science. What Campbell’s rat experiments really showed wasn’t that animal protein is a vengeful macronutrient of doom, but the following:
1. High-quality protein promotes cell growth no matter where it comes from;
2. Protein deficiency thwarts the liver’s ability to detoxify dangerous substances; and
3. With more realistic doses of aflatoxin, protein is actually tremendously protective against cancer, while protein-restricted diets prove harmful.
Did the Real China Study Show That Animal Foods Are Associated With Disease?
The China Study only devotes one chapter to its namesake study, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a doozy. Also known as the China-Cornell- Oxford Project, the China Study was an enormous epidemiological endeavor exploring diet and disease patterns in rural China—a project coined “the Prix of epidemiology” by the New York Times. Spanning sixty-five counties and collecting data on a whopping three hundred sixty-seven variables, it generated over eight thousand statistically significant correlations between nutrition, lifestyle factors and a variety of diseases.15
Although a project of such magnitude inevitably found some contradictory and non-causal links, Campbell asserts in his book that the data generally pointed in one direction: “People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease,” and “People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest and tended to avoid chronic disease.”16 Although—as echoes through the hearts of statisticians everywhere— correlation doesn’t equal causation, these associations in conjunction with Campbell’s other research are supposed to make a compelling case for animal foods being legitimately harmful.
But were the results of the China Study really a sparkling endorsement for plant-based eating?
It seems this conclusion is based, in large part, on unreliable blood variables rather than actual foods. In his book, Campbell states that he and his research team “found that one of the strongest predictors of Western diseases was blood cholesterol,”17 and proceeds to treat cholesterol as a proxy for animal food consumption. Throughout this chapter, we learn that the China Study data found associations between cholesterol and many cancers, as well as cholesterol and animal protein intake—implying that animal protein and those same cancers must themselves be intimately linked.
But because blood cholesterol can be affected by a number of non-dietary factors and can even rise or fall as a result of disease, examining the relationship between food itself and health outcomes is likely to be more informative than using cholesterol as an overworked, fickle middleman. But the direct relationship between animal protein and diseases isn’t discussed in The China Study for one monumental reason: that relationship doesn’t exist. An examination of the original China Study data shows virtually no statistically significant correlation between any type of cancer and animal protein intake.18 Only fish protein correlates positively, but probably non-causally, with a small number of cancers: nasopharyngeal cancer, a rare disease that only strikes one out of every seven million people; liver cancer, which shows up in fish-eating regions because aflatoxin proliferates in humid areas near water; and leukemia, which is likely linked to other elements of the industrialized lifestyles associated with coastal regions (and thus fish consumption) in the China Study.19
Ironically, when we look at plant protein— which The China Study argues so vigorously is cancer-protective—we find almost three times as many positive correlations with various cancers as we do with animal protein, including colon cancer, rectal cancer, and esophageal cancer.20 Likewise, for heart disease and stroke, plant protein has a positive correlation while animal protein and fish protein have negative or nearly neutral correlations—meaning the animal-food eaters in rural China, if anything, are getting less cardiovascular disease than their more vegetarian friends.
But matters get even more interesting when we look at some of the peer-reviewed papers generated by the China Study data, most of which are co-authored by Campbell himself. As with the casein research, the China Study findings as described in Campbell’s book are a hop, skip, and eighteen thousand jumps away from what the original research says. Although wheat gets nary a mention in the China Study chapter, Campbell actually found that wheat consumption—in stark contrast to rice—was powerfully associated with higher insulin levels, higher triglycerides, coronary heart disease, stroke and hypertensive heart disease within the China Study data—far more so than any other food.21,22 Likewise, in a paper from 1990, Campbell conceded that “neither plasma total cholesterol nor LDL cholesterol was associated with cardiovascular disease” in the China Study data, and that “geographical differences in cardiovascular disease mortality within China are caused primarily by factors other than dietary or plasma cholesterol”—revealing that not even the beloved cholesterol middleman could live up to its heart-disease-causing accusations. 23
And in the spirit of saving the best for last, another of Campbell’s own papers, published a mere two years before The China Study hit the shelves, states point-blank that—despite Campbell’s claims about the superior health of the near-vegan rural Chinese—“it is the largely vegetarian, inland communities who have the greatest all risk mortalities and morbidities and who have the lowest LDL cholesterols.”24 Maybe the lesson here is the same one we gleaned from Campbell’s rats: it’s pretty tough to get sick when you’re dead!
The Gist
Despite its increasing popularity (and glowing endorsements by high-profile vegan converts like Bill Clinton), The China Study is, in many ways, more a work of fiction than a nutritional holy grail. The book has spawned a number of myths about the hazards of animal protein and the true results of the China Study itself—myths that easily crumble under a scrutinizing eye, but nonetheless continue trickling into the mainstream and gaining mounting publicity.
If there’s anything positive to take away from the book’s four hundred seventeen pages, it’s the promotion of a whole-food diet—and the resulting elimination of vegetable oils, high fructose corn syrup, refined grains, and other industrial products that tend to displace real food on our modern menus. But for those seeking scientific literature of a higher caliber, The Psychology of the Simpsons is likely to be a more satisfying (and animal-product-friendly) read.
SIDEBAR
THE PLANT-BASED DIET DOCTOR SQUAD
DEAN ORNISH , MD: Limits sugar, corn syrup, white flour, margarine, vegetable oil, alcohol and any processed food with more than two grams of fat. Program involves smoking cessation, peer support, stress management and exercise.
CALDWELL ESSELSTYN, MD: Forbids vegetable oils, refined grains, white flour, and products made from enriched flour such as bread, pasta, bagels and baked goods. Uses statins to bring patients’ cholesterol levels below 150.
JOHN MCDOUGALL , MD: Limits white flour, refined grains, sugar-coated cereals, soft drinks, processed carbohydrates, fruit juice and vegetable oils.
NEAL BARNA RD, MD: Forbids vegetable oils, high-glycemic foods, high fructose corn syrup, caloric sweeteners and fried starches like potato chips and french fries.
JOEL FUHRMAN , MD: Excludes refined foods, including vegetable oils.
Getting rid of empty and refined foods, especially vegetable oils—the common denominator in all these plant-based prescriptions—will make for improvements in almost everyone. But long term, without nutrient-dense animal foods, deficiencies will emerge.
REFERENCES
1. Campbell, T. Colin, PhD, with Thomas M. Campbell II . The China Study: Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss, and Long-Term Health. Dallas: BenBella Books, 2004, p. 36.
2. Ibid, p.36.
3. Ibid, p. 48.
4. Ibid, p. 60.
5. Ibid, p. 59.
6. Masterjohn, Chris. “The Truth About the China Study.” http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html
7. Colpo, Anthony. “The China Study: More Vegan Nonsense!” http://anthonycolpo.com/?p=129
8. Bounous G., et al. Whey proteins in cancer prevention. Cancer Lett. 1991 May 1;57(2):91-4.
9. Hakkak R., et al. Diets containing whey proteins or soy protein isolate protect against 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced mammary tumors in female rats. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 Jan;9(1):113-7.
10. O’Connor, T.P. et al. Effect of dietary intake of fish oil and fish protein on the development of L-azaserine-induced preneoplastic lesions in the rat pancreas. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1985 Nov;75(5):959-62.
11. Schulsinger, D.A., et al. Effect of dietary protein quality on development of aflatoxin B1- induced hepatic preneoplastic lesions. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1989 Aug 16;81(16):1241-5.
12. Masterjohn, Chris. “The Curious Case of Campbell’s Rats—Does Protein Deficiency Prevent Cancer?” September 22, 2010. http://www.westonaprice.org/blogs/cmasterjohn/2010/09/22/ the-curious-case-of-campbells-rats-does-protein-deficiency-prevent-cancer/
13. Madhavan, T.V. and C. Gopalan. “The effect of dietary protein on carcinogenesis of aflatoxin.” Arch Pathol. 1968 Feb;85(2):133-7.
14. Mathur, M. and N.C. Nayak. “Effect of low protein diet on low dose chronic aflatoxin B1 induced hepatic injury in rhesus monkeys.” Toxin Reviews. 1989;8(1-2):265-273.
15. Campbell, p. 73.
16. Ibid, p. 7.
17. Ibid, p. 77.
18. Junshi C., et al. Life-style and Mortality in China: A Study of the Characteristics of 65 Chinese Counties. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
19. Minger, Denise. “A Closer Look at the China Study: Fish and Disease.” June 9, 2010. http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/06/09/a-closer-look-at-the-china-study-fish-and-disease/
20. Minger, Denise. “The China Study: Fact or Fallacy?” July 7, 2010. http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/
21. Gates J.R., et al. “Association of dietary factors and selected plasma variables with sex hormone-binding globulin in rural Chinese women.” Am J Clin Nutr. 1996 Jan;63(1):22-31.
22. Fan W.X., et al. “Erythrocyte fatty acids, plasma lipids, and cardiovascular disease in rural China.” Am J Clin Nutr. 1990 Dec;52(6):1027-36.
23. Ibid.
24. Wang Y., et al. “Fish consumption, blood docosahexaenoic acid and chronic diseases in Chinese rural populations.” Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2003 Sep;136(1):127- 40.
This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly magazine of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2012.
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What’s the truth?
I’m puzzled by the conflicting information everywhere I turn re plant-based diet and consumption of animal products. I have read the China Study and agree that it seems extreme and wonder, also, about the science. Large studies like this can be interpreted in a variety of ways , some good, some not so good. I also subscribe the the WAPF philosophy. Sadly, especially as reflected by this article, the dialogue seems to be divided into teams, each having their own studies/science to support their point of view and a need to be right. This article would have been improved by less put-down of the other side and sticking to the facts as she see them. The somewhat snotty tone makes it sound like she has her own ax to grind.
Vegan
To Cate: More like Dr. Campbell has a vegan propaganda to spread. I believe any person with a brain for analysis and an intolerance for bull-crap would grind their ax on Dr. Campbell’s work.
You have to think about what makes sense, too.
Think about what TRULY MAKES SENSE.
Why in nature would only the select few animals we decide to slaughter and consume be beneficial to eat? No one advocates that golden retriever is particular beneficial to health but that would be animal protein in the same way cow, chicken, and pig provide animal protein when eaten. Why would it make sense for a human being to eat these animals naturally? Any biology class will teach you we are herbivores so in terms of nature, it does not make sense.
As for dairy – why on EARTH would the breast milk designed for the growth of a baby calf be the stable for a HUMAN diet? There is ZERO logic behind that. Why not drink the milk from your cat when she gives birth to a litter?
It is definitely confusing with all of this conflicting “data” and “research”, so go with what makes sense, naturally. Nature rarely makes mistakes.
I sure agree. I always look at what makes sense. Drinking cow’s milk does not make any sense to me! It is for the growth of a baby cow, not human!
The reason humans consume cows milk is simple, we can. We have the ability to and other species don’t.
ALL animals will drink cows milk at any age if they have the opportunity. (If you give it to them)
To say that we are the only species that does it so we should stop is what doesn’t make sense.
If cats and dogs had the means to drink cows milk they would partake on a daily basis.
Eggs should be used in comparison. Any animal lucky enough to find on others species eggs makes for a good meal. That is a food that can be obtained on a regular basis.
“It makes perfect sense when you just don’t explain it”
No biology class has EVER taught me that we are herbivores. We are omnivores. Perhaps you had a crazy vegan teacher?
The structure of our intestines shows us that we are meant to be herbivores. Long intestine allows for food to remain in the system for every nutrient to be extracted and often decompose. Carnivores do not have long intestines. They do not have digestive enzymes in their saliva like herbivores do. Also, uric acid (required to break down animal flesh) is toxic to humans.
Bri: We have incisors and canine teeth for eating animal flesh, in addition to our molars. We also have a simple one-chambered stomach (not the 4-chambered stomach of many herbivores). Our stomach is high in hydrochloric acid for digesting protein. It seems that we are equipped to digest both plant and animal foods.
https://www.vrg.org/nutshell/omni.htm
We are opportunistic omnivores. Here’s some information from a vegetarian.
So this is a simple way to squash the herbivore, omnivore, and carnivore debate. If you reference the animal kingdom of mammals living in the wild, which humans are mammals , you will see they eat all types of foods in the wild, including meat. The only thing they don’t eat is grains and beans and other starches. They have pristine health. Watching some nature channels would do everyone good.
Humans evolved as opportunistic omnivores, so not sure what biology class would teach that we are herbivores. We can see our omnivore adaptation in our teeth, our digestive system. Our closest primate relatives eat plants, insects, carrion, even kill other primates for food. Our ability to derive nourishment from various sources is key to our success as a species. And the dairy argument, it’s true that most humans do not tolerate cow’s milk, but do tell the Maasai or Central Asian tribes who still drink fermented mare’s milk (and drank mare’s milk with blood) that this is “not normal”. Making the vegan claim as natural is a first world statement of moral superiority. Be vegan for your reasons, but claiming your way is natural is in conflict with tens of thousands of years of human culinary history.
Nonsense. Read the studies published in “the China study” and try the whole plant based diet . If eating meat,eggs,and dairy were so good for us ,why are all the cancers, diabetes and heart disease increasing every year.
Your comment makes far more sense than anything in the above article, refuting all of The China Study, with biased nonsense just to defend eating animals. The author of the above article needs to study human anatomy and physiology. We are not designed well for animal products, and we are profoundly well-designed to obtain all dietary needs from plants. Plus, animal agriculture is responsible for over half of all environmental destruction of land, air, and sea. That steak won’t taste so great without a planet to eat it on!
Nancy P. Well as a zoologist, I HAVE studied comparative Human anatomy and physio;logy across a wide range of animal species. and I can assure you we are supremely evolved (not designed please) to eat animal products along with many plant products as well, the characteristics of a true omnivore. A true herbivore needs many more additional characteristics that we do not have such as fermentation chambers, specific gut bacteria capable of breaking down cellulose and lignin, and specific enzymes in addition to the ones we have.
Animal agriculture being responsible for environmental destruction is a complete red herring. It is not an argument for giving up eating animal products. it is intensive factory farming that does the damage. Good mixed rotational farming practices in fact benefit the environment, can be carbon neutral, and encourage rich diverse and complex ecosystems. It is how you produce food that is important, and has nothing to do with which foods we should eat and which we shouldn’t.
Truth!! Well said!!
This is for Susan Windecker:
You’ll find the increase in cancers/diabetes etc is due to over consumption of carbohydrates. Those of us who follow a high meat based lifestyle don’t have these issues. That’s why low carb reverses T2 diabetes.
It’s also known that most cancers thrive in a sugar environment……which is the opposite to meat based.
Eating sunflower seeds designed for the growth of a new sunflower is just as absurd by the same logic. But hey, there are obviously many compounds the human being can use from both of those substances.
Mark, not true. The Inuits are often sighted as carnivores. Yet their life expectancy is about 66 years. The Maasai tribe of Northern Tanzania, primarily carnivores have an average lifespan of only 43 years. “Although reports of health and vitality of the Inuit and Masai abound, actual information on the reasons for their premature mortality are surprisingly not too easy to find. The following information comes from the Inuit people themselves and is a fact sheet about various concerns of the Inuit peoples:
https://www.itk.ca/sites/default/files/private/factsheet-seriesFINAL2.pdf
Lung cancer rates for Inuit men and women in Canada are the highest in the world and these rates are rising. (Circumpoloar Cancer Review)
The death rate from strokes is twice as high for men and women in Inuit communities than for all Canadians.
Women in Inuit communities have a COPD death rate that is 10 times that of other Canadian women.
Death rates for perinatal and congenital conditions are more than 2 times higher for those in Inuit communities.
The same is true for mortality information of the Masai peoples.
Questionnaires are sent into the interior of Tanzania and the Masai list their causes of death. This information comes from a doctoral thesis with the following citation:
Coast, Ernestina (2001). Maasai demography. Ph.D. Thesis. London : LSE Research Online.
The Masai list their cases of death as Land mine, Cattle raiding, Fever, Typhoid, Amoebic dysentery, Curse, Drowning, and Snake bite
More information about the Masai mortality can be found in a 2013 volume of the American Journal of Epidemiology. It sites a comprehensive study of the Masai by the Vanderbilt U School of Medicine…it is still considered relevant and a synopsis is listed below:
“Mann, G. V. (Vanderbilt Univ. School of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn. 37203), A. Spoerry, M. Gray, and D. Jarashow. Atherosclerosis in the Masai. Am J Epidemiol 95: 26-37, 1972.-The hearts and aortae of 50 Masai men were collected at autopsy. These pastoral people are exceptionally active and fit and they consume diets of milk and meat. The intake of animal fat exceeds that of American men. Measurements of the aorta showed extensive atherosclerosis with lipid infiltration and fibrous changes but very few complicated lesions. The coronary arteries showed intimal thickening by atherosclerosis which equaled that of old U.S. men. The Masai vessels enlarge with age to more than compensate for this disease. It is speculated that the Masai are protected from their atherosclerosis by physical fitness which causes their coronary vessels to be capacious.”
So unless you’re willing to exercise all day long like a Masai, adapting their high fat diet may not be for you…
For anyone interested, there are irrefutable sources for information such as T. Colin Campbell’s “The China Study,” which is the most comprehensive study of human nutrition ever conducted. The Institute of Aging and National Geographic are also great resources of information, with their research into diet, well-being, and longevity and their Blue Zones research.” – Tess from Texas
Mark, additionally, here is some great information oncarbohydrates and type 2 diabetes from Dr. Roy Taylor’s work: https://youtu.be/X5GIExMa4rM?si=C3qb5K7TNPhUd2RH
That makes a LOT of sense! Thank you.
Amen : )
We hunted the large game to extinction. Do some anthropology research. We descended from the trees starting eating meat and became the humans we are today. We don’t drink milk from a cat, but we did drink milk from domesticated large animals such as goats and cows, all over the world.
I don’t think Dr. Campbell is exactly vegan. According to what you wrote, he used animals as test subjects to justify his hypothesis, and I know it’s quite impossible to do it otherwise, however, that action alone is a great offense to the philosophy of veganism. Campbell may be “vegan” but I think it’s more for his belief on its health benefits rather than its ethical stance as you so repeatedly try to imply.
Please, before attaching a convenient and derogatory label to support your belief system, do the reading! The guy was raised on a dairy farm and his original mission as a scientist was to find a better source of protein to feed the hungry. It didn’t turned out as he expected. Denying reality is NOT going to change it, nor is choosing what you believe based on what suits your likes and dislikes and trying to pass it off as fact. Denise Minger is guilty of this and twists fact to suit her tastes and gather support and followers, like most egomaniacs through history, by slandering and undermining those who don’t agree with her! She is the worst propagandist going because she is spreading twisted misinformation based on her OPINION to the detriment of many. We all have freedom of choice but deserve to know the TRUTH, not some lame opinion. She has no science or education to make her any more expert than anyone else. The truth is out there, unless you REFUSE to see it. Seriously, we all like what we like, but denying fact based on that is ridiculous! Let’s see some of her peer reviewed science instead of a hyperactive agenda to diminish those who CAN comprehend reality!
How manipulative.The exact accusations you place against Denise can be leveled against you and mo rightly so.As far as I see , I do not see twisting of fact but rather the exposure of fact-twisting by VEGANS.
Dr. Campbell promotes a Whole Plant based diet not a Vegan diet.
I have read what Denise Minger wrote and she in no way slanders Campbell. She was very respectful. She did however, pick a part his research and I am sorry but that is allowed. Critics have the right to make their point. Science is to be criticized. She made some very good points.
I found her article disrespectful. Almost every sentence had some snarky jab at either Campbell or vegetarians/vegans. The whole tone was derisive. Surely it is possible to make our points without demeaning others who may have different values.
She also shows her own bias very early on in the article.
Thankyou ! It’s exhausting trying to argue with people who haven’t read or seen any of the documentaries on a plant-based diet. Let them have egg on their face because we don’t want it
I’ve seen every single one of the “documentaries” on plant-based diets. They are, without fail, complete nonsense.
Please read Weston Prices study, the man for whom this site is named. It’s called Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. There are free PDF versions. Price was a dentist at the turn. Of the century following the industrial revolution. He noticed a sudden change in the development and health of his patients and wanted to know why. He didn’t get a grant. He used his own money to make a world-wide tour of the world to study healthy people and their sickly neighbors for 9 years.
There goes the put down. Not necessary to make a point.
Cate
I also have trouble determining what is healthy and what is not because one day something is healthy and the next it give you cancer. The problem I find with a lot of the people trying to debunk Dr. Campbell’s China Study is that many of them are not as qualified as Dr. Campbell. Perhaps I missed it in the article above, but I do not see Denise’s credentials. I myself am not an expert in statistics, but I know that its not as simple as correlating two items together. It is much more than that. You must account for variables and things of that sort, which Dr. Campbell did in his book. Also, his book is not one study, it is a compilation of many studies and experiments that all lead him to the same conclusion over his career.
The other thing that I do not see being mentioned in any of these anti-China Study write ups is the work of Dr. Essylsten. When switched to a plant based whole foods diet, his patients heart disease reversed, arteries became less clogged, they reduced the amount of medication they needed to take, and this all worked to the point where they no longer needed expensive and dangerous heart surgeries.
This is why I have to side with the scientist who has a lifetime of work to back his claims.
Besides Doctors Campbell and Essylsten there is also a great body of work done by Nathan Pritikin and Dr. Dean Ornish. The Ornish program with plant based low fat principle has proven itself so well that Medicare is paying for it.
If medicare endorse’s something its definitely worth further investigation….Its the government. Like the FDA not to be trusted with any research unless it’s making them money
The drug companies and the medical establishment are terrified of a vegan diet. They make money out of sick people and they want those customers coming back. Look at who sits in the board of the American Medical Association… the dairy council, the sugar council, drug companies, the beef cattleman association. They suppress anything negative about their products going mainstream. There is a collusion of corporate interest and government agencies. T Colin Campbell study is free from influence, and it simply makes sense. Name a disease coming form a plant based diet…. none.
Lupo: Americans (among whom every disease is increasing) already eat mostly plant-based. Cereal, Pop Tarts, toast & bagels w/ fake butter, coffee with fake creamer, low-fat granola, chips, pretzels, pasta, low-fat desserts,juice,etc.. This SAD diet IS mostly plant-based. Our children in particular only get protein from maybe a little bit of cheese, and a few highly processed “chicken” nuggets. Not may veggies, and not much protein or good fat in that diet. It’s been disastrous with regard to every disease we know of, but the medical establishment is ok with it. When we say “plant based” we need to really qualify it!
Balance is key, and to tip to one side in whole is not biology or balance. The dynamic duo of Campbell and Essylsten has done nothing more to tell you that plant based is healthy, and we all know that is true and part of a ‘well rounded’ diet. But the way this was brought out, tested and put out as the hole grail reminds me of one other person, Ancel Keys, and we all know what he did (and consequently recanted shortly before he died). I do not want to go into the importance of the Mevalonate Pathway, Cholesterol and hormone importance, especially adrenal gland function, but I would only take away from the China study what is fact and pointed out by the author “Getting rid of empty and refined foods, especially vegetable oils—the common denominator in all these plant-based prescriptions—will make for improvements in almost everyone. But long term, without nutrient-dense animal foods, deficiencies will emerge. I have reversed pre-diabeties, heart disease and CAD myself, and I did that drinking whole organic milk and eating 21 organic eggs a week! My calcium score went from 800 to under 10. My collateral growth in my arteries is superb. Everything I eat is organic or grass feed. Balance is the lesson to learn, and if you are not eating full organic, well… you have to jungle all this on top of high doses of glyphosate that is arguably at the root of all systemic diseases now.
I totally agree. It is a balanced diet we should aim for. We need building foods such as protein and fat and we need alkaline detoxing foods such as vegetables, fruits herbs.
I have personally seen total health devastation from the long term deficiencies that eventually occur on a vegan diet.
Out of curiosity I tried to eat a vegan diet once. I only lasted 6 weeks and then stopped. My iron and zinc levels became too low and no matter what plant source of these nutrients I ate. I could not get enough.
I have never felt so run down in my life. It took 6 months to rebuild my hemoglobin. Some people seem to do much better than I did but eventually they too will have deficiencies.
I have seen some hard core vegans go back to meat after 10 years as their bodies start to get very ill.
“Some people seem to do much better than I did but eventually they too will have deficiencies.”
feel free to list those deficiencies as I don’t see them in anyone in our family and we don’t eat any animal protein and haven’t.
today’s plant based milks and cereals, etc. are all fortified to the point where no real supplements are needed.
If you’re also looking for information on heart disease management, why not consider the alternative written by Dr. Stephen Gundry who was a cardiovascular surgeon who is now doing the same thing with an animal based protein diet? The diet evolution is the name of the book. Moderate-high protein, moderate fat and low carb is working for my patients lowering cholesterol, lowering blood pressure, getting them off diabetes meds, reducing chronic pain etc.
Again ,why the silly excuses ? Denise does not need to be a scientist because SHE’S QUOTING FROM PEER REVIEWED sources.You don’t need credentials to speak the truth.Many other people with credentials have supported the claims presented here.
My question, what were they eating before? A whole real foods meat based diet? Or refined fluor sugar, rice and high fructose corn syrup? Top ramen noodles? I doubt very much they were on sourdough whole grain buns with their burgers. How much soda did they drink? What was the contamination level if their diets with flouride , as well as Teflon cookware, ( emanates flouride). ? There are a lot of factors often left out to sway the results.
Example, when some want to disparage the value of vitamins they will summarize fir example, that vitamin E has no effect on a certain illness. And state that it disproves the use of vitamin E. But if you look at the details, they often won’t make a distinction between natural vitamin E and synthetic, and it makes a very big difference. Or they will use doses so low as to be useless.
Another fine deception that has been occurring in studies of late is the publishing of fake studies. Natural news had a few articles on this. A man ( sorry don’t remember his name) went to a site that substituted gibberish language and converted it to study firm. And submitted this to several publications, and none if these evidently bothered to read his studies to see that they were gibberish. And most of them offered to pay him for said study. So that’s the state if your science today.
Another good example. Joel Wallach of Dead Doctors Don’t Lie fame published a great book in 2015 called Epigenetics. I didn’t realize before thst he was a huge animal vet ( rhinos and elephants) . And I didn’t realize before that he did lab research with monkeys for NASA. But he discovered a lot of illnesses that were caused by selenium deficiency, and cystic fibrosis is one, and he replicated it in monkeys but the establishment was so stubborn about it being a human genetic disease that they fired him. He went on to discover keshons in humans and muscular dystrophy in humans was selenium related. Jerry Lewis was fired for him sharing this info with the MD foundation. So there’s your science. It isn’t. It’s determined to keep making money regardless of the science.
Plants rule. I too was skeptical of Denise’s article and searched for her credentials; and lo, she doesn’t have any (that I found); at least nothing in the way of degrees. She uses words that appears to conclude pedigrees, but she doesn’t come out and say it. Her parents are pedigreed, but she doesn’t appear to be. She is however, VERY good with her writing, and is very persuasive with her words. But, I’ll stick with a pedigree who KNOWS the human anatomy and its function, and will give credence to his or her studies and conclusions.
No, that’s stupid. Her conclusions mean nothing because she doesn’t have a degree? Even though she is reading strait from his studies? Well, hell, I have a degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Guess that means if I says her points are correct then they are in fact correct, right? I mean, you only go by authority opinion and by your logic I am in fact an authority. So, shes write and your bs opinion of her opinion is wrong. The Biologist says so, therefore true!
Switching from a garbage SAD to ANY healthy diet would have the same results.
I agree totally with Cate, and am in the same boat, dizzied by endless studies PROVING that this position or that is correct. As an non-scientific person that just wants to figure out how to live and eat healthy in my twilight years, I am getting weary of trying to figure out who is right. #tiredandfrustrated!
Kevin
What is the downside of eating plants and not animals? You become healthier, the planet is spared environmental degradation, and the animals are not tortured and killed in the most brutal fashion. A plant diet consists of whole plant foods; corn, potatoes, sweet potatoes, wheat, rice, buckwheat, quinoa, legumes like lentils, and vegetables and fruits of all kinds. There are junk foods made from plants (french fries, soy ice cream) it is true, but Campbell and all the other brilliant and dedicated scientists and doctors working on getting this word out warn specifically against processed, highly salted, high sugar and oily foods as well. The idea is simple: Eat simply–grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.
So, for all those who said they want to think about this logically consider the money.
These pioneer researchers might make a few bucks on their books and speaking engagements–but what they are promoting will save you money (rice and beans!) and is readily available. The pharmaceutical industry, and medicine in general, have a vested interest in keep the population fat and sick, popping ever more pills and deteriorating anyway. Other countries that eat this simple way do not suffer from the chronic diseases we do until they change to the American diet. There really isn’t any debate any longer except from those who feel so threatened by the end of producing meat and dairy. The Cattlemen’s Association and the Dairy Association are some of the richest and most powerful lobbies in the country. Do you want to believe their reports on the benefits of eating animals or the unbiased scientists?
McDougall, Campbell, Ornish, Klaper, Goldhammer, Lim, etc. are some of the most morally responsible people in the world. They want their patients to get better, and when they eat this way there is no doubt that most do. Billions have gone to the ACA for the last 70 years–check out the data–we really aren/t doing that well as concerns cancer.
Sadly we can’t trust anyone these days. Too much hidden money involved. Could Campbell have been influenced by money from vegan groups? Was Minger influenced by dairy or meat groups to counteract the effect of The China Study. We may never know. We are left with our own sound reasoning skills which too will be influenced by our own preconceptions. Eat as cleanly as you possibly can, avoiding as much chemical adulteration of your food chain as you can, maybe even grow as much as you can of your own food both plant and animal. This is about the best we can truly do and much of the rest is really up to chance since you really can’t control the innumerable number of variables that may or may not cause cancer. Oddly enough, there seems to be significant support for , and I haven’t heard any argument against the idea that stress in many forms including worrying about diet can be very bad for your health with possible connections to cancer via free radicals and chemistry changes in the body. So worrying about your diet too much can be doing more harm than your diet itself. It really is a personal decision. I personally am practically vegan in that I still eat meat occasionally. I started due to things like “Forks Over Knives” and “The China Study” but am staying the course because of very real changes I am noticing within my body and how I feel while eating a vegan diet. I am sure others will claim the same with a meat based diet as well. I am / was Asthmatic, COPD, Diabetic, Morbidly Obese, Hypertensive, and several other issues most of which have seen definite improvement since I began leaning toward a more vegan centric diet. If you make changes to your diet pay close attention to your body and how you feel and let it guide you within reason.
I appreciated your comment. You express, I think, what we all feel – exhaustion about trying to weed through all the research and position points, and come to an unbiased assessment of what would be a good diet. The only thing I would add is this – Dr. Campbell probably profited greatly from his book (unless he dedicated the proceeds to a charity or something). But, he a highly educated and presumably well-paid man over the past many years, and it is easier to trust such a person than the massive industries whose interests are threatened greatly by what he is saying. On a balance, I’ll trust the whistleblower over the industry that makes trillions and has the most to lose… This is especially true because Dr. Campbell does not sell any nutritional supplements etc – one person could read his book, adn then just summarize the whole thing to a friend: “Eat fruits, veggies, and whole grains”. All other authors have follow up books, diets, a brand of vitamin they recommend, etc.. but not Dr. Campbell, to my knowledge…. which tends to lend some further credibility to his name.
Try to talk to him on the phone, he WILL return your call. I did as I wanted to bounce a few things off him. At first he seemed nice enough but the call turned into a time share sale and he kept trying to get me and my wife to fly to his facility to take his course or program. When I asked about a DVD, it was like I was dead. Don’t kid yourself, it is always about money. Just differs on how much that money drives one person to the next.
Truth is, the animal industries may have comissioned this critic because they are very very worry indeed with their steady profit loss now that the genie is out of the bottle. Listen to your body and fast regularly to let the body destroy the pre cancer cells. Works for both vegans and meat potatoes.
Seems to me there’s a lot more good than bad in living by the plant based, non processed food diet as long as protein deficiency is kept out of the equation. How can a diet like that be anything but healthy?
Weston cités à source that refers to another study that actually validates The China Study’s contention about casein in bovine milk causing tumors, and in so doing, Weston shoots herself in the foot!
SOURCE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10667471
It blows her long winded hypothesis and the illogical responses right out of the water. Than you for this potentially life saving comment and link which I will share.
How is this study contradictory? The point being made was that whey protein has protective properties(according to this study, twice as much as soy protein) and isolating casein and then proclaiming all animal protein dangerous is a significant oversimplification. Generally whey and casein are consumed together and isolating one without the other doesn’t make sense in real world application. I’m not a consumer of dairy, but the conclusion of this particular study actually showed benefits of whey protein consumption, which is a component of dairy.
I too find it so confusing. I guess for me I just go off of nature & common sense as much as possible. Dairy products seem like an obvious thing to avoid. No other animal drinks milk as an adult, esp. not milk from a different species. Even not accounting for the added growth hormones, milk in its natural state is a hormone bomb. We know artificial hormones can cause cancer & other problems so it stands to reason consuming bovine hormones might too. I personally dont feel comfy having animal hormones being added to my own hormones, ever. Maybe thats why studies do pretty consistently show a link between dairy and hormone related cancers like breast, ovarian, testicular & prostate. Meat seems trickier. For me RED meat is definitely out because of all the studies linking it to bowel cancer and possibly esophageal and stomach as well. These studies seem to be well replicated and pretty reliable. Even the WHO has come out and said to limit red meat. White meat & eggs Im not sure about. I dont eat white meat but if studies showed its benefits outweighed its risks I might. Ditto eggs. Our nearest relatives (apes) seem to get the bulk of their calories from plants, only eating meat occasionally so IMO we should only be eating it occasionally as well. It seems our gut and teeth are evolutionarily suited for this as well. As far as deficiencies, I find it hard to believe a vegan diet would be protein deficient as protien is readily available in plants. Even bodybuilders have been able to make gains on a vegan diet. As far as I know we dont have a big protien deficiency in the US. I think other deficiencies might develop but deficiencies can develop in meat eaters too. I think this is really where the difference in bodies comes in. But there are always supplements if a deficiency arises that you wish to fix. Now lets talk disease prevention. I think studies are pretty conclusive that eating plant based diets can prevent & even reverse heart disease & diabetes. This seems so well established that trying to refute it is silly. Maybe we can add a little animal products and still reverse disease but I dont know the threshold. Also the lowering cholesterol diets given to many patients that include animal products don’t work for many people but a strictly plant based one will. As for cancer, Harvard health estimates that about 35 percent of all cancer can be avoided thru diet. Another 30 percent can be avoided thru not smoking. Other cancers have been linked to vitamin D deficiency, a deficiency seen in meat eaters & vegans alike. So together lifestyle can prevent about 65 to 70 percent of cancers they say. I think its irresponsible to say that all cancer can be prevented thru a vegan diet. Its not proven at all. But by avoiding tobacco, dairy and meat and eating lots of fruits & veggies, beans, nuts & whole grains ( and taking vitamin D), I do believe it is fair to say and the studies show that you can prevent a pretty good chunk of cancers and nearly all cardiovascular disease and diabetes. At the same time its sobering to think that if we all lived to be 100 virtually everyone would die of cancer eventually, according to some scientists. Because cancer is also a result of a wearing out process and old age. So we might be prolonging life by avoiding heart attacks/strokes only to die of cancer later on in life. But IMO at least we can prevent premature death as much as possible. I mean we all gotta die eventually but lets try to live as long and as well as possible.
My husband and I started a whole food plant based diet 6 weeks ago. He lost 20 pounds already, his blood pressure is lower, he sleeps better and he says he has never felt healthier or more energetic. He isn’t hungry like he was on a diet either because with whole foods and plants it takes so long to digest and we don’t have to limit how much of them we eat. Feeling this healthy compared to when we were eating meat and cheese is all of the proof I need that Campbell is right. And I am thankful that I discovered his book and the work of others that led me to this new way to eat. I think my husband and I will have healthier lives because of it.
Even for those who do advocate lean meats for diet, the problem today is the way they are raised is disturbing, disgusting and unhealthy. So to eat that meat, red or white is probably not healthy. Now, if you can raise your own or buy from someone who does raise their own meat that is the best but not the most likely or accessible for everyone. It is a challenge. I just started not eating meat and will try it for 3 months to see how it effects me.
Read “The Stone Age Diet”. We are carnivore.
Go read everything written by NATASHA CAMPBELL-MCBRIDE. And also read the Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. The truth is out there. Keep reading. Don’t stop until you know both sides of the veggie/meat story.
Was there a motivation for Mr Campbell to arrive at these conclusions and publish them? Your article seems to imply that these conclusions should have been obviously incorrect and makes one wonder why someone with his knowledge and skill sets and apparent passion would knowingly mislead on a life and death topic??
Go read everything written by NATASHA CAMPBELL-MCBRIDE. And also read the Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. The truth is out there. Keep reading. Don’t stop until you know both sides of the veggie/meat story.
personal experience
I think one doesn’t need to argue, but just try it. I lost 40 kg of weight and started to run marathons and ultras since I went on a plant diet. Friends and relatives, including my wife, two of my brothers, my mother-in-law and my children demonstrate drastically improved or superior health when moved to plant diet. So, if you feel good on meat, go your way, but I know the huge difference it made for me and prefer the other way.
So, as I said, it is easy. If you are corpse eater, try plant for a couple of months and make your mind. If you are veggie, try meat for a couple of months and decide (BTW I have a friend also, who was vegan for 15 years, and at the age of 28 (yes, she started vegan very early, her own decision) suddenly started to eat flesh. She told me she didn’t know why and she had no apparent reason.
Go read everything written by NATASHA CAMPBELL-MCBRIDE. And also read the Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. The truth is out there. Keep reading. Don’t stop until you know both sides of the veggie/meat story.
I’d have to agree….
…with the commentator John H. To each their own. Constantly, as Cate says in her comment, something is good for you and bad for you depending on who you ask. I just try things for myself. My body chemistry is different than yours so what works for me may not work for you. Therefore both the China Study and the above criticism must be taken with a grain of salt.
For me it just so happens that a plant based partially raw diet (I also eat eggs and honey) is right for my body. My skin is clear, my nails are strong, I am energetic, my hair has less breakage, my cycles are less painful, my mood stays steady, I feel great after I eat, and I have even noticed less body odors smilies/grin.gif . (Sorry if TMI for anyone but we are on a healing arts domain.) With that said, my husband is the exact opposite and needs high protein to function at his best ability. Thus my opinion – “different strokes for different folks.”
Go read everything written by NATASHA CAMPBELL-MCBRIDE. And also read the Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith. The truth is out there. Keep reading. Don’t stop until you know both sides of the veggie/meat story.
Comments seem right on, article, not so much
Ah – The China Study is sensationalized. That jumps out at the reader if you get to about the second third of the book. Unfortunately, this article is also sensationalized. What is a body to do? I could try to read the original research findings myself, but probably would be lost in medical vocabulary. I like the commentators here who do what they feel is right and do what works for them. The vegan diet works for me very well. I do supplement occasionally with brewers yeast, which might not be pure vegan?
Campbell is on the advisory board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which has received funding directly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA (who also prompted inaccurate publishing of cancer findings from the WHO).
person observation
I personally have experience with the vegan diet, i never thought i can be a vegan but after watching forks over knife I was very impressed by the strong facts that support the benefits of vegan diet, but it’s not easy as meat does taste good and you do have more choices when you go eat out, and if you don’t live in SF, NYC, or bigger cities, it’s hard to find soy milk..they would be staring at you, like are you crazy? Anyway, my partner and his whole family has always been having high blood pressure issue, and his father and his uncle died fairly young because of a heart attack, he has been on a vegan diet for almost a year now, his blood pressure is back to normal, from 150/100 to 115/70, he was so shocked by that as he didn’t take any medication at all, that reinforce the idea that he should stick with his diet.
I am here to say it may not work for everyone for having this very strict diet, but it definitely has some very powerful benefits considering our modern days diet essentially are very much processed and sugar packed. While not everyone who are animal eater would die young, but I strongly recommend the plant based diet is a healthier diet, my current diet consists of 80 to 90% of vegetables and whole grains, and the rest would be white meat and fish. No more red meat.
The commentary here does have a concensus: this article does not make the point it promises to make.
The author, Denise Minger, starts her critique of “The China Study,” by asserting, “the book’s most widely repeated claims, particularly involving Campbell’s cancer research and the results of the China-Cornell-Oxford Project, are victims of selection bias, cherry picking, and woefully misrepresented data. She then goes on to make this case with exactly that.
One need not be a scientist to know who is right. Two phrases in the article give it away: “meat lovers” and “PETA-approved.” The first is irrelevant in the search for scientific truth (food addictions are also well-documented) and the second is a sarcastic swipe at those who are drawn to veganism for moral reasons (as opposed to dietary-health alone).
The useful parts of this page are within the reader comments, almost all of whom take issue with the article’s intention. I agree wholeheartedly with those who suggest that each individual must make up his or her own mind, about what is healthy for them, and what is not. I would also agree that the evidence of the benefits in a vegan diet (not to mention an even stricter regimen without processed foods, and without added salt, oil or sugar) is overwhelming. Just look at Bill Clinton (or would his being a liberal offend the meat-eating crowd?)
Campbell is on the advisory board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which has received funding directly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA (who also prompted inaccurate publishing of cancer findings from the WHO).
Points taken
The writer in this article definitely brings up very valid points about the selective reporting of research from The China Study. I am reading The China Study now and already and dubious about the simplicity and lack of follow-through on other cancer and illness factors, including other non-animal based foods, like wheat and corn for example. I am open to reading and learning what I can from this book, though today when reading another critique about the book I saw some quotes from the book that are really factually incorrect (which I even know). Campbell doesn’t know the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates, which for a nutrition scientist with decades of experience, is alarming. This leads me to wonder if our specialized nutritionists, though perhaps too broad to categorize, are really knowledgeable about health and vitality.
Caveat lector
1. The Weston A. Price Foundation is funded by meat and fish producers.
2. The China study was funded by universities and the Chinese government.
3. This article does not address IGF-1.
4. This article uses a rat study as a straw man for the population study.
5. The data shows: whole-food plant-based diets reverses the top killers.
6. The final quote is taken out of context. The inlanders were DHA deficient. Cancer was omitted, except liver cancer, which was positively correlated. Plant-based alternatives were shown to be as affective as DHA at deterring chronic diseases. Omega-3s from land animals (pigs, cows, etc.) were shown to not lower mortality or morbidity like DHA. Upshot: Some fish, or better yet, algae to avoid mercury concentration, is a good thing!
7. Minger uses subjective language and ad hominem attacks. Nevertheless, she is a confident public speaker and arguably attractive, and thus many take her advice.
8. Taking nutrition advice from paleontology …
Bravo
Right on!
For sure!
Campbell is on the advisory board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which has received funding directly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA (who also prompted inaccurate publishing of cancer findings from the WHO).
What is truth
I will side with the evidence….I have not seen nor heard of one instance where this data has been discounted. Only weak attempts at smashing the good news and information these scientists have PROVEN over and over and over again. To me, much of this starts and ends with the government organizations that “oversee” what it is that “we” need. What a pile of crap. These agencies are as corrupt as the administration. Really, it doesnt take a doctor to understand that the former CEO or board member of the Dairy Association should be making decisions as to what “we” need to have in our diet, and then no shock when there is an increase from 1 to 2 cups of “milk”. Get real people, we are being sold out to profit for companies that produce dairy and meat….if “anyone” was REALLY concerned about US, many practices would cease when it comes to animals….but NO ONE really cares about us….all dollars and cents. Look at Al “the idiot” Gore who curses those who drive SUV’s, and then hops in a private jet….wake up.
too much focus on the protien. a skewed and slanted perspetive.
hey you love to eat dead critters go for it. don’t try to justify it with documentation provided by the beef producers of america. there have been plenty of studies aside from this one that say basically the same thing. what about saturated fats, uric acid ect. it isn’t necessarily the protien itself it is the entire package. she even goes so far as to call it fiction.
Campbell is on the advisory board for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which has received funding directly from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA (who also prompted inaccurate publishing of cancer findings from the WHO).
sucking on a cow teat is just plain creepy
What about WebMD or Harvard School of Public Health, are they credible sources? They seem to think that dairy products are not needed for health benefits. Additionally, Harvard School of Public Health believes milk recommendations are a “step in the wrong direction.”
The Dairy Industry has done an outstanding job having us believe that we still need to suck on the teats of another species, it’s pretty gross really. Put it on our TV, have a celebrity endorse it, pay a few people off, tell us we need it, spend zillions on propaganda ads, and it could have been a dog. I’m no doctor, but this guy is. In fact, dairy was removed from “the healthy plate” by the Harvard School of Public Health a while back, not sure if everybody knew that or not.
Walter Willett, MD, PhD, professor of epidemiology and head of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health says, “One of the main arguments for USDA recommendations is that drinking milk or equivalent dairy products will reduce the risk of fractures. But in fact there’s very little evidence that milk consumption is associated with reduced fractures,” Willett tells WebMD.
Furthermore it’s linked to most of our common “manageable” diseases at this stage.
Brevity, please. I’m working on my diet, and trying to learn all the time. So naturally, what Denise Minger has to say is of interest to me. However, I wish she would stop tryng to sound so cute in her writing style. It doubles the number of words one has to get through, and just gets tiresome. There is way too much on the internet to read to slog through it.
Wheat is already a complete protein
LOL, it is the ratio what can be different to animal foods. Failed critic at this regard.
Most plants are complete proteins, no missing aminoacids there.
Most plant foods are not possessive of ‘complete proteins’, that is have the necessary balance of essential amino acids in their composition. Seeds and beans are best but are complemented by other plants e.g. whole grain cereals with their relative abundance of an amino acid that is relatively deficient in the bean or seed. As a good example soya and cereal complement each other to provide a complete array of essential amino acids when consumed together or within a limited time frame.
It’s just mean to bash vegan doctors and its meaner to slaughter, TORTURE, tens of billions of sentient beings for unnecessary flesh foods. It is really telling that our society is so rampant with predatory acts of violence when all it does is cannibalize its own young by teaching them to be predators, starting with their plates.
NO WONDER the violence comes full circle. There are MORE Reasons NOT to consume sentient animals than economics or self gratification. Perhaps ALL your family members should work in a pig or calf slaughterhouse for a month! Or a chicken slaughter house where BABY birds are tortured to death after a life of trauma and stress. And this we call “FOOD?” OMG. The PROOF is in the fact that patients of many doctors using plant based nurtition as MEDICINE ARE Being cured and reducing medications or eliminating them, is PROOF enough. http://www.earthlings.com WATCH. What humanity does to other beings is abnormal and unholy. One reasoned look at our culture and we see the symptoms of our mindless violence to defenseless creatures. Is eating flesh and dairy really worth the death of our planet because that IS what’s happening….
What about animals that eat… other animals? Are they evil too?
what’s lacking in The China Study and this commentary is the importance of sufficient protein….
0.5 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight a day, depending on your level of activity. So even for anorexic vegans, that’s at least 50 grams per day.
Vegans can claim carrots and other veggies have sufficient protein. One large carrot has about 0.7 grams of protein. Go ahead, vegans, take all day to consume 100 carrots and you’ll get 70 grams. and have fun trying to find the rest of your MDR of protein in lettuce etc. Try Beans and Nuts instead, but it will still be a challenge to meet your protein MDR, unless you try a protein supplement like Medi-Clear. I make a smoothie using it every morning and get 32 grams of vegan protein, with only 1 gram of sugar. And I can run circles around the vegans and vegetarians I know.
Vegans argue that we really don’t need that much protein. If so, why did my friend Kat’s gastrocnemius muscle begin to repair immediately after increasing her protein consumption from 15 grams a day to nearly 50 grams, while she suffered for 5 months before that with no improvement? why did another vegan who claims he gets enough protein from veggies have DOUBLE HERNIA surgery recently? Do you know how rare that condition is? Our abdominal muscle is incredibly strong, very hard to injure, since it encloses all our abdominal organs and supports our back muscles. But his body was apparently stealing protein from his abs, which tore, with the resultant protrusion of his intestines.
BOTTOM LINE–THE BODY NEEDS PROTEIN TO BUILD AND REPAIR MUSCLES AND OTHER TISSUES. YOU DON’T GET ENOUGH, YOUR BODY STARTS STEALING IT FROM YOUR MUSCLES.
Vegans also tout Olympic athlete Carl Lewis, who turmed vegan in 1991. Before going vegan, Lewis consistently dominated both sprinting and the long jump. After the heights reached in 1991, only 1 year after starting the vegan diet, Lewis started to lose his dominance in both the sprints and the long jump, and in 1992 failed to compete in events where he was formerly strong. http://www.bulletproofexec.com/carl-lewis-vegan/
I hear story after story from vegans and non-vegans about problems with healing injuried muscle tissues, chronic back pain, and overweight (chronic hunger!) among vegans and vegetarians. Most are so busy patting themselves on the back about saving the world by not consuming those poor “helpless” creatures, they don’t think twice about their own health. There are lots of ways to save the world. If you vegans and vegetarians want to promote the health of the world, over which you have little control, over your own health, go for it, just stop preaching to the rest of us. I was a vegetarian for 20 years and am far more healthy and thinner now that I eat a little meat every week.
finally, I’m a biologist. We have teeth called CANINES. They didn’t get there by accident.
WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE FOR OUR OWN HEALTH!
And not to mention when I was closely vegan I had 2 miscarriages, once I started consuming more protein I was able to get pregnant and carry the baby just fine.
I suppose you’re eating a lot of soy. GM Soy Can Lead to Hormonal Disruption and Miscarriages
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/12/08/the-dirty-little-secret-hidden-in-much-of-your-health-food.aspx
“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” – Socrates
“0.5 to 1.5 grams per pound of body weight a day, depending on your level of activity. So even for anorexic vegans, that’s at least 50 grams per day.”
If I look at a regular vegan day where I consume fruit, vegetables, and grains (ie. simply bananas, rice, and asparagus) I am consuming 3372 kcal and 57 grams of protein no problem. What the commenter neglects to realize is that a lot of vegans tend to eat much larger quantities than those that are not vegan. To put this into perspective I am a slender 140 lbs female at 5’8″ I rarely excercise which equals to 2.5 km of biking to work every week and I regularly consume 3000-4000 calories depending on my appetite.
“Vegans also tout Olympic athlete Carl Lewis, who turmed vegan in 1991. Before going vegan, Lewis consistently dominated both sprinting and the long jump. After the heights reached in 1991, only 1 year after starting the vegan diet, Lewis started to lose his dominance in both the sprints and the long jump, and in 1992 failed to compete in events where he was formerly strong. http://www.bulletproofexec.com/carl-lewis-vegan/”
This argument is irrelevant. It doesn’t account for the fact that in modern day sports popular use of performance enhancing drugs.
This entire argument also neglects to point out how protein is absorbed and how much protein you need daily to absorb.
BOTTOM LINE: DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH. RESEARCH YOUR OWN BIASES AND DON’T GET FOOLED BY SNAIL OIL SALESMAN THAT ARE HEAVILY FUNDED BY MEAT AND DAIRY OR ANY CORPORATIONS FOR THAT MATTER. ISOLATE THE FACTS AND INTERROGATE THE SLANDER.
Sorry I have to agree with Kathy. I think you have to look at nutrition and diet as a moving target. In the past couple of years I have become a Nutritionist, more to learn the facts for myself .. or what is claimed to be facts .. everything is interpreted and everyone is different .. those are facts .. I do believe that we are all different and we need to find out what works for us. Meaning, try the lifestyle and see what your blood and body says. I have tried everything from raw, vegan, veg, paleo. I am type O blood which i think makes a difference on what your body needs. My wife and family are A .. I am athletic, work out every day. I found without meat my blood test drop below the numbers I want .. I do feel stronger and definitely heal quicker with RED meat. My wife on the other hand doesn’t eat much red meat .. and more Veggies and does great.
I learned a lot in my nutrition road that bio-availability is very important and you have to understand that as a vegan or veggie .. I did my homework before trying each diet change .. i was raw for 4 straight years .. felt good .. light .. no problems .. but couldn’t perform athletically as well and my testosterone dropped very low .. I don’t want to get into what each diet did .. but they were all a little different ..all had plus sides to them .. but I also found down sides. I now each mostly green but I do eat eggs and meat. I do a shake every morning .. and my blood numbers are great .. which are also interpreted .. what do you think the numbers should be ..
I think we all should play around and see what works .. don’t get too stressed about it .. no matter what you do .. if you eat clean and exercise you will be ahead of the game and your body will appreciate it .. and sooner or later you will find the magic diet for that time .. and it might change .. I have been good for a couple of years .. but open for change again if need be.
I don’t think there is a connection between your blood type and nutritional body needs. I admit that I’m not well versed on the function of these specific glycoproteins on your red blood cells, but that’s what your type is: it refers to specific glycoproteins found attached to the surface of the red blood cells in your body. If you have the A glycoprotein you are type A, if you have the B you are type B, if you have both you are type AB, and if you have none of those you are type O. These are only one subset of glycoproteins found attached/anchored to the surface of red blood cells.
I don’t know how they could possibly be connected to differences in dietary needs.
Can you give me your views on consuconsump of dairy and eggs (organic of course)
I totally agree.
I tried a vegan diet and only lasted 6 weeks on it. It took me 6 months to rebuild my hemoglobin.
Certain nutrients are far more bio available from meat and my body just could not get enough of these from a plant based diet. I ate like a horse to try and meet nutritional goals. Blood sugar was all over the place. I gained unwanted weight. I felt so malnourished it was absurd.
I will never ever do that to myself again.
My body needs meat and lots of vegetation to thrive.
How about age as a factor in Lewis’s diminished performance? Also he won Olympic Gold medals for the long jump in 92 & 96.
Also the ONLY US Weight lifter that made it to the Olympics this year was vegan, Kendrick Farris.
So many athletes are going plant-based because of the advantages it brings like quicker recovery for instance.
The DRI (dietary reference intake) or RDA (recommended daily allowance) for protein is 0.8g/Kg of body weight. Your maximum figure would result in approximately 3.4g/Kg body weight and the lowest figure over 1g/Kg body weight. All in excess of current calculations. Sorry
food tales
i’m a medical doctor and have seen personally how a plant based diet is clearly superior to a meat based diet. you can’t argue with clinical results and lab numbers. my patients with high cholesterol, blocked heart arteries, gout, diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle related diseases have all improved or even reversed their conditions with the switch from an animal product based diet to a largely plant based diet. those who benefited most were those who went for a purely whole foods, plant based diet. i have no doubt that Dr. Campbell’s findings are credible and true. i find that people who have either personal interests in the meat and dairy industry or who simply have a preference for eating meat and meat products because it tastes good and they feel they cannot live without it are the ones determined to put down people like Dr. Campbell who’s interest is for the good health of the public.
What else did they cut out though?
I have worked with a lot of people that were forced to change their diets or fall to illness .. and I do agree with a mostly plant based diet .. but research found that most people that made the change .. changed their entire diet and way of living .. so going from a bad diet of transfats and no exercise to green and exercise will definitely make a change and can do exactly as you said .. but I think if you feel you do better with meat protein and eat green and clean with an exercise program .. or even walking 5-10k steps a day .. you will get the same results .. bottom line .. green is great .. and cut out as many processed foods as possible ..
Thank you I totally agree and have seen in my own experience the same things. My parents reversed high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes in less than a year after turning vegan.
Medical doctors do need clinical results and lab numbers -statistics if you will. Epidemiology is crucial to establishing the efficacy of a therapy or regime as are controlled clinical trials. Personal observations and anecdotes alone can result in severe errors. The history of medicine is replete with examples.
Publisher of The China Study
The initial straw man argument made by Denise Minger “the release of The China Study by T. Colin Campbell. Printed by a small publishing company known for other scientific masterpieces such as The Psychology of the Simpsons and You Do Not Talk About Fight Club” makes the rest of her article questionable at least and suspect at most. The publisher has an impressive list of authors,with mostly non-fiction titles: http://www.benbellabooks.com/
Protein Myth
This is in response to CathyBaja, are you serious? Obviously you do not know your nutrition AT ALL!!!! Did you realize that 1 cup of black beans has 15 grams of protein, that is 1 CUP!! Nuts, grains, tofu all have tons of protein. 1 cup of cooked Quinoa has 18 grams of protein!!!! You are making claims that are completely false and making connections where none exist. You say that your vegetarian friend got a hernia and you say he got that because he was not getting enough protein. By your logic a person who eats meat should never get a hernia. BUT HOLY CRAP THEY DO!!!. Protein intake has nothing to do with hernias you are making connnections where none exist. As far as Carl Lewis, HE TURNED VEGAN IN 1990!!!! Look it up, he credits 1991 to his turning Vegan and even though in 1992 he got beat in some qualifiers in the olympics in 92 he turned in the fastest anchor leg ever in the 4 by 100m and that record stood until 1997. Also he won his 3rd gold medal in the long jump in 1996, long after turning Vegan. Plus if you are a biologist then you know that our digestive track mimics that of a herbivore. All of what you say has absolutely no merit. You can be a vegetarian and Vegan and be in bad health, that is if you are one of those vegans that eats French Fries and Potato chips and thinks that is okay. There is plenty of bad food for vegans but if you eat right you can be way healthier then any meat eater.
Bravo
I seriuosly doubt that Kathy Baja is a biologist. And if, with some unexpected miracle she is – I feel sorry for her students.
Getting enough protein wan not a problem for me on a vegan diet. It was getting enough zinc, iron and B vitamins. No matter what I tried I became very malnourished.
My body just can not get enough of specific nutrients from a vegan diet.
I became very malnourished.
I did not thrive on a plant based diet.
Biochemical individuality needs to be taken into account.
Sorry I have to agree with Kathy. I think you have to look at nutrition and diet as a moving target. In the past couple of years I have become a Nutritionist, more to learn the facts for myself .. or what is claimed to be facts .. everything is interpreted and everyone is different .. those are facts .. I do believe that we are all different and we need to find out what works for us. Meaning, try the lifestyle and see what your blood and body says. I have tried everything from raw, vegan, veg, paleo. I am type O blood which i think makes a difference on what your body needs. My wife and family are A .. I am athletic, work out every day. I found without meat my blood test drop below the numbers I want .. I do feel stronger and definitely heal quicker with RED meat. My wife on the other hand doesn’t eat much red meat .. and more Veggies and does great.
I learned a lot in my nutrition road that bio-availability is very important and you have to understand that as a vegan or veggie .. I did my homework before trying each diet change .. i was raw for 4 straight years .. felt good .. light .. no problems .. but couldn’t perform athletically as well and my testosterone dropped very low .. I don’t want to get into what each diet did .. but they were all a little different ..all had plus sides to them .. but I also found down sides. I now each mostly green but I do eat eggs and meat. I do a shake every morning .. and my blood numbers are great .. which are also interpreted .. what do you think the numbers should be ..
I think we all should play around and see what works .. don’t get too stressed about it .. no matter what you do .. if you eat clean and exercise you will be ahead of the game and your body will appreciate it .. and sooner or later you will find the magic diet for that time .. and it might change .. I have been good for a couple of years .. but open for change again if need be.
If our digestive tract was designed for a solely herbivorous diet we would have an enzyme to break down cellulose, either produced directly from the gut lining or glands or from microorganisms strategically placed to enable absorption of the derived nutrients-we havn’t such anatomy or physiology. Cooking has enabled humans to derive an abundance of nutrients from plants because of broken down cellulose walls. Molar teeth help a bit.
Those black beans ( and others) are relatively deficient in the essential amino acid methionine. They need supplementing with whole grain cereals that are richer in methionine.
I don’t think you can use Carl Lewis as an example for the benefits of being vegan because he was cheating by using steroids to win and set his records at the olympics.
Middle ground
I think there definitely is a middle ground. From my experience counseling patients as a primary care physician, a whole foods diet generally holds promise for improving cardiovascular condition such as hypertension and general condition. The atkins type diet which is high in saturated fats is also beneficial for those trying to lose weight, and weight loss is one of the most important determinants of having a healthy blood pressure and vascular condition. I think the main point is that processed foods are always bad, and possibly by maintaining a healthy weight and keeping blood sugar and insulin levels down health can be achieved with or without a large component of animal protein.
Most intelligent comment on here….And from a doctor. Go figure.
Low carb diets have been proven to be unsustainable in weight loss. There is tons of literature disproving the Atkins style low carb fad diets. Not to mention there are studies and a more famous meta-analysis that show a correlation with low carb diets and a higher overall mortality rate.
Weight loss is easily achieved and more importantly sustained through a plant based diet.
One more point, a US physician is only required 3 hours of nutrition education to earn their degree. I have no knowledge of whether or not this physician is from the USA, but I also have no reason to trust their knowledge over that of T Colin Campbell or really any other layperson who’se done the time and research on the topic. The truth is most physicians know just as much about nutrition as the average person.
most intelligent comment on here…and not from a doctor.
>low carb diets and a higher overall mortality rate.
That’s only half true. High-animal food sources with low-carbs has a clear correlation with mortality rates. With plant based low carb diets, there’s a lower correlation.
Also, Socrates never said: “When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the loser.” Just thought I’d let you know.
Weight control was a big issue for me for the 13 years I was vego. 6 years of Paleo and I am lean as and not a single sick day during this period and I am 62 years young.
Not if he is recommending the Atkins Diet which has been discredited by the scientific nutritional community as a healthy diet. There are other healthier ways to lose weight to achieve the medical parameters required.
I had Chinese for lunch before I read this.
What are the odds???
We’re trying it
My cholesterol has been going up 1 point every year since my 20’s. I have been meat-free for a year now. My new cholesterol reading, instead of going up 1 point this year, went DOWN 30 points. It is still high however so now I am going to go meat and dairy free for 3 months and see what happens.
Add some activity and it will fix in two months 🙂
I agree .. a little exercise goes a long way .. it might be hard at first .. but it is all about consistency with anything. Get a pedometer if you need to track your progress .. when I was raw my cholesterol dropped too low 120 .. but so did my testoterone .. so for me, I eat meat and exercise and found the happy mediu
Profits more important than health benefits
Ever wonder why people are still smoking? Yes, there is money to be made. The Tobacco industry..yeah.
Well, I am reading some of these comments, and some going in great length to discredit the China Study. READ IT FIRST.
The biggest reason that it is not more widely known or promoted is this: The Meat Council, the Poulty Industry, The Pork industry ETC. Do you think they may have some MONIES pending on this study???? Its all about PROFIT folks.
My friend who i thought was pretty fit, a body builder with maybe just a little too much bulk on him contracted prostate cancer. He ate ALOT of CHICKEN and broccoli. Probably up to 2 chicken breasts every night for a few years. Didn’t sound that bad. No red meat consumed. Bottom line, way too much protein consumed. These chicken breasts probably had growth promoting hormones in them too. Chicken breast of the 60’s 70’s were much smaller without these additives.
Anyway, I digress, He has inoperable prostate cancer at this point.
Personally I am sharing this book with everyone I know and care about. Most will go on with their current diets, it just easier, right…?
My body, THANK GOD, has always refused to eat a lot of protein. Always made me feel kinda sick and heavy. I am 67. and told all the time how I look years younger.
Do yourself a favor and read the China Study and figure it out for yourself. No cancer for me, thank you.
PS obviously, goes without saying, eat Organic whenever possible.
I cannot agree with you more Dianne, as a psychologist I just want to add that two primitive but potentially deadly defense mechanisms in the human psyche namely DENIAL and RATIONALIZATION can cost us our lives.
We need to be pretty brainless if we are eating animal products which are pumped full of growth hormones and antibiotics sprayed to keep them from loosing its red attractive color, packed in plastic and washed in ammonia to get it fresh again for human consumption.
But then some of us are so far into denial that DENIAL “is only a river in Egypt!!”
That is only feed lot meat. Visit a healthy farm where the animals are pasture raised. Wild game is the best source for meat and has been eaten for hundreds of thousands of years. Industrialization to your point lies the issue.
Read the China Study and could not disagree more with the ‘whole’ plan. Your example of two chicken breasts is another example of not being balanced and excess, just like the China Study is/was. Unless you are bitten by a tick that set off a chain of reactions in the body, One of those reactions being the production of an allergic class of antibody that binds to a carbohydrate present on meat called galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, also known as alpha-gal, I highly doubt your body refused to eat it, that was a personal choice, not biology.
You are right about Organic, and unless you are 100% eating organic, including grass fed and free range meats and eggs, you can pretty much throw any study out the window. Glyphosates and GMO products are in 90 percent of all produce, and most all meats are treated with hormones, or slaughtered from over growded feed lots where the animals sat in there own feces all day. You have to remove this from any health equation to have a complete answer, plan and simple.
Well, how very confusing when all I want to do is get well!
I have read countless books over the years and tried many protocols and spent thousands of dollars all to no avail. A few points I have noticed are.
1. Folks that change to a plant based diet do indeed improve their health, weight and look fresher and younger in the beginning.
2. Over time it would appear that vegans develope some serious deficiencies.
3. Heavily reliant meat eaters also develop health problems.
Conclusion: eat a whole food plant based diet with some heathy fats and a little meat occasionally to keep the balance.
That is what I do I mix the raw food vegan type diet with the paleo diet.
I just added some meat and sea food back into the vegan diet.
I became so malnourished on a vegan diet in only 6 weeks.
It was a very disappointing experience.
What about almond milk? I tried it and found it to be a good alternative to whole milk or soy milk.
In Colorado I found that all the little coffee shops offered almond milk. That doesn’t happen here in Texas.
I am currently ready “The China Study”. I am finding it quite interesting.
The doctor that I saw about my high blood pressure refered it to me. My blood pressure has come down a lot with this new way of eating for me. I still indulge on vacations, but overall I am thrilled to have this information.
Here is a link to a good article on dairy alternatives – http://www.westonaprice.org/blogs/kdaniel/what-can-i-drink-instead-of-soy-milk/
I highly recommend reading The China Study, as well as other books written by the doctors mentioned in this article’s Sidebar: Plant-Based Diet Doctor Squad. (The only reading I would actually ignore is the sarcastic unscientific article, Flaws in the Vegan Bible.) After having heart bypass surgery and reading several of these books, I decided to go Vegan 3 years ago. As a result, after 10 years of meds, I am no longer diabetic, I reversed my severe heart disease to the almost-disbelief of my cardiologist; I no longer have high blood pressure, and don’t have any stomach ailments. I will say, in addition to going vegan I also eliminated added sugar and fats and only eat whole grains. Almost incidentally, I lost a lot of weight and gained a huge amount of energy. Was it hard? Actually no, once I realized how abundantly the earth provides. The food I’m eating now is so satisfying; the simpler the better. And I love knowing my food now comes from the earth and doesn’t involve the suffering or slaughter of any animals.
Lack of cholesterol as you age will bare down on you, mark my words. I too have reversed all those things you did and I have a stent in my LCX. I changed all my numbers but not by following Campbell’s plan, it is not balanced. I used a variety of sources to put my own plan together, but I will admit my plan is mostly in line with Dr. Stephen Sinatra’s. Your last comment sounds more like a PETA.ORG booster, make sure you do not eat meat for the right reasons. Organic meats and dairy are treated humanly.
You might be interested to view T. Colin Campbell’s recent interview (June 11th, 2014), below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7rshjAZuzg
Hmmmm…
Just finished reading “The China Study” after it was recommended by my older brother (a dentist) and his wife (a doctor). Like them, I have embraced and implemented the recommended dietary advice offered in the book (as well as the book, “My Beef With Meat.”
I was only going to do the diet for 2 months max, if nothing ‘spectacular’ happened. Fast forward 2 months and not only am I still doing this “diet” but I have every intention of sticking with it – no problem – the rest of my life.
…Why? Because even though I was already in great shape for a 55 year old and was eating what would otherwise be considered a ‘balanced diet,’ I’ve felt sooooo much better! I’ve doubled my running distance and I can sprint now – something I figured was permanently in my past. It’s been such an improvement that I actually wondered if something else was going on – but this is the only thing in my life I’ve changed (except for doing forefoot running instead of my heel-to-toe method I’d been using for 35 years).
I have needed less sleep – because the sleep I do get is better quality – my joints feel better (which is probably why I can run so much farther. In fact I feel 20 years younger. And it’s true – I feel full sooner and don’t have the hunger for sugar and fatty foods like I had. (I never was a huge overeater, but I did love desserts and buttered bread and so forth.)
It really has amazed me the difference. I could go on but it’s getting late. For me the proof is in the pudding. Nobody could convince me otherwise.
And oh, almost forgot, there will always be naysayers for popular books on any subject – especially about diets and nutrition. The difference, however, is peer-reviewed and independently corroborated evidence by professionals who have done heaps of post-doctoral research and spent their whole lives trying to do what’s right to help people – vs the rest of us ‘normal folks’ 😉
…Anyway, it’s often us ‘normal folks’ who so often try to ‘debunk’ professionals without anywhere near the experience or education. (trying to be nice here to the author of the article/post I’m responding to 😉
Charles
I am the same age and can do all you do, have low cholesterol, bp of 117/65, resting pulse of 55 and I eat meat. I don’t, however, eat processed foods especially carbs and the meat is free range and grass fed. An important thing to remember is that correlation does not prove causation. Even the best researchers fall into this trap.
Probably the best post here Doug, and short. Doug is right, eat a balance of plant based and ‘good fats and oils’, nothing hydrogenated and no heated oils as ‘oxidized fats and oils’ are the real danger (trans-fats).
So many do not understand yet that heart disease is a inflammation process, not a cholesterol process, and sugar fuels this heart disease not fat, or at least not good fat! Wonder why diabetes is a huge marker for heart disease? Wonder why a better indicator of your risk is not cholesterol total but rather your triglycerides divided by your HDL? Should be 2:1 or better yet most have 7:1 or even 10:1!! This is sugar based!
Have to eat all organic and meats and oils need to be free range grass fed as Doug said, that is a MUST! You have to cook all your own meals and do all your own shopping. I have had to fire 3 cardiologist for being ignorant and made at me for NOT going on a Statin drug. I ask them why I need to and if they can tell me how that will affect the Mevalonate Pathway and my P450 Enzymes, and they just go “huh?”
If you really want a good book to read, throw the China Study in the trash and read “The great cholesterol myth’ By Stephen Sinatra and Johnny Bowden. I am not trying to support Sinatra, I can even say I disagree with him on Statins for middle age men with prior coronary disease and they should take one, I disagree (I think Statin’s are the most toxic thing you can put in your body for anyone!), but the rest of his book and ideas are spot on and can be backed by science.
Good Health
Charles, one doesn’t need to be any kind of an expert to use their own brain. The people debunking Campbell’s work are presenting solid evidence found right within his own work which shows that he’s been playing fast and loose with the data. And I might add that the interesting thing about Dr. Campbell’s work is that it HAS NOT been peer reviewed, and it lies in contention with several other studies done by equally esteemed and credentialed scientists, whose work actually HAS been peer reviewed. I would also add that Campbell made quite a lot of money on all of this and the people debunking don’t make a dime spending the time to point out his work’s deficiencies. So you might want to be careful talking about people who “spent their whole lives trying to do what’s right to help people” when you do not, in fact, know why any of the people involved did what they did.
As for your own experiences, I’m glad to hear you’re doing well on the diet. As has been proven, a vegetarian diet clearly works for some people, and it clearly does not work for others. Reference this article http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/01/08/chris-masterjohn-criticism-of-the-china-study.aspx
The detractors are not claiming that it doesn’t work for anybody, they’re merely refuting Campbell’s claims that it DOES work for everybody, and they’re also refuting his wild claims about cancer – using Campbell’s own data against him. I can’t see how that would be a problem for anybody, unless they didn’t read the information presented or didn’t understand it.
One of only 3 rational comments on here. 🙂
I agree.
I did not thrive on a vegetarian or vegan diet. These diets were a disaster for my body.
It amazes me that others seem to do so well on it.
In all this debate the number one idea is strikingly over looked and there is still much truth and importance regarding whole-food plant based foods EVEN FOR MEAT EATERS, MICRO-NUTRIENTS. The fact is, point blank, Americans do not eat enough FRUITS and VEGETABLES (aside from vegans, vegetarians) PERIOD. You can listen to the milk farmers (who fund this organization, this site and there campaigns), the athletes, Mr. Gym-rat Douchebag, pharmaceutical companies who refute whole food plant based diets citing the all important necessity to include animal proteins in diet and that’s fine. We’re all familiar with these Arnold, Ronnie Coleman wannabees telling us that you need this amount and that amount of protein intake per pound for your body to “heal correctly” or the efficiently build muscle. Let’s clear up a few things. One, there are many athletes that thrive on plant based diets. Second, YES (Mr. Gym-rat Douchebag) animal proteins ARE, FOR CERTAIN, more efficient at building muscle and helping you recover. But lets talk about regular people. (not Arnold-Coleman wannabees)Regular people who do not pursue lifting heavier weights or are not looking to “get big” simply do not need those high levels of protein. And let me clarify, I DO EAT animal protein and am not a proponent or representative for either side of the “to meat, or not to meat?” debate. What I am saying simply is that people on both sides miss the big (or smaller) picture and overlook what they should be taking away form all of this. MICRO-NUTRIENTS. The China-Study is not focused entirely on the rat studies and the correlation between casein protein and tumor production, and one cannot focus entirely on that no matter what side of the fence you’re coming from or through what biases you read it. It also points to low cancer rates correlated to efficient intake of micro-nutrients, again MICRO-Nutrients. All this arguing about what are “appropriate” levels of macro-nutrients (carbs, fats, proteins) and what “feeds” or “starves” cancer cells is hogwash. If vegetarians don’t get enough “real” protein, then big meat eater, western diet eaters and body builders don’t get enough “real” micro-nutrients. I guess that the trade off isn’t it? But, it doesn’t have to be. The gym-rate who comes home from the gym eats a huge steak, a bunch of potatoes, and six small florets of broccoli is not getting enough vitamins and minerals. However, being that this is a societal issue, let’s not focus on Mr. Gym-rat Douchebag. Instead, lets focus on Americans as a population and the western (or American) diet and its correlation to “western disease.” This article pointed to the fact that inland people in China who ate some (FAR less than Americans) meat and still had low cancer rates. So what? Did the author really believe that claim debunks the China Study or the importance of fruits, vegetables and micro-nutrients. Those populations ate SMALL portions of meat INFREQUENTLY. In the documentary produced based on Campbell and Esselstyn, the filmmakers interview a Chinese man who developed heart disease and coronary artery issues only after indulging in the gluttonous American diet. In his interview, the man described the difference in PORTION SIZE (pay attention ‘Murrica) of meat or fish in his native land to that of portions in America. He said, very clearly, that the Average portion of meat consumed by a single person in the United States was large enough to be sliced and feed a family of FOUR PEOPLE in his native land. This difference is key (and totally overlooked by BOTH SIDES) to determining correlations between animal product consumption, chronic conditions, heart disease and cancer. Regardless of which interpretation you believe the concept of a cancer “light switch” regarding animal products is completely unreasonable. Perhaps, we should consider these correlations as being more of a dimmer rather than a light switch, with the focus being how bright one wants the room to be. If a person wants to be big like Arnold, they’ll need to eat lots of protein, preferably animal protein. If a persons competes in long distance runs regularly, they’ll need to eat more complex whole food carbohydrates. If a persons heart cries for the thousands of unfortunate critters raised for slaughter, they’ll be pressed by their conscious to eliminate animal products all together. These trade-off’s represent the adjusting of the “dimmer.” Diets high in animal protein “may” raise risks for cancer or health issues and diets omitting animal products “may” cause protein deficiencies and raise the risk for other disease/conditions. Most Americans today need adjust their diets somewhere in the middle, control portion size and limit the consumption of certain animal products, fats, fried and garbage foods. However, no matter where you adjust your dimmer you will still need electricity. Just like the current flowing through the dimmer switch, micro-nutrients will allow you to reach your maximum health potential no matter what levels you set you macro-nutrient intake at or where you food sources are from. In recent years some vegetable rebels in the medical field feel that they can cure cancer using only nutrition, while defenders of conventional medicine will make it clear that only the current medical practices can rid the body of cancers and others pathology. The saddening absurdity in all of it is that nutrition is seldom mentioned let alone being prescribed. Even the “super healthy” Mr. Gym-rat Douchebag only eats 1/10th the amount of nutrient rich foods he should be eating. The purpose of this response is to highlight the importance of vitamins and minerals, portion control and BALANCE with highlights being made regarding increasing fruit and vegetable intake. Let’s hope we all find a healthy balance.
I’m a cattle rancher. I’ve eaten a lot of beef and chicken for most of my life. I’ve chosen not to side with the results of the China study because it will negatively affect my income and that of my family. It really doesn’t matter to me if a vegan diet is good for you and it makes you healthy. I’m more concerned with livelihood of folks like me, who depend on the sales of animal products for human consumption. If you get sick eating meat or vegetables, that’s not my problem, but your own problem. Why do we have doctors, hospitals and big pharma then? For one reason only, to get you back to health or at least to keep you alive for as long as you can get health care and you don’t die.
As always, honesty trumps everything. If your livelihood doesn’t depend on the meat industry, then please keep eating meat. Meat is good for you…say who? I say so and that’s my final piece of advice. We have to die one way or another. Why not die eating something that you enjoy eating. Who wants to eat vegetables, nuts and fruits exclusively? I don’t, so shouldn’t you! The best doctor is the one doing the talking now: c’est moi. I’m of french descent, so I know a thing or two about food.
I am writing this particularly for children and mothers. They should be eating ample protein and I would rather convert an excess into energy than come short on protein.
As sources of energy/calories there are fats and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates that have significant calories are grains, root vegetables, beans and fruits, vegetables are typically lower in calories. Whole Grains, and beans are not a food you should be eating due to the anti-nutrients, difficult digestion and toxins. If you choose to do so, cook very long or use a pressure cooker for the high heat. Still I would keep them very limited, or avoid them altogether.
I would not eat a low fat diet (less than 20% calories from fat) unless I understood the carbohydrates really well. In this sense, I believe fat in the diet also functions as a safety factor for mistakes in our knowledge and miscalculations.
I suppose some say that if you eat vegan and do everything correctly, including supplementation, you can be quite healthy. However, I would suggest that animal products do offer a very large significant safety factor in case you were to miss something. Particular interest for many people would be Vitamin B-12 which is primarily found in red meat and fish, not even so much in poultry or dairy. That is not all by any means, just do not depend on poultry alone for meat.
Many people do well when switching to vegan because they become hypo-caloric, which is great for your heath if you are overweight, but this can be deceptive if you are not.
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I would argue that the industrial livestock farming systems are flooding the market with cheap, poor quality animal products which bad for human health (via nutrition and antibiotic resistance) and the environment. So go for higher welfare, organic, and pasture fed meat also you might want expand your choices beyond beef, pork, chicken and lamb. http://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/5234769/Nutritional-benefits-of-higher-welfare-animal-products-June-2012.pdf
Most, if not all, of our sources of animal protein come from herbivorous (vegetarian) animals like cows, sheep, deer, goat etc. Funny, these animals eat grass or leaves to make the protein that we get by eating them. And the probably largest animal (the elephant) eat nothing else but plant leaves. Where do they get their protein??
Our teeth are so like those of the herbivorous animals – are we meant to be plant eaters too?
Incorrect. We have teeth like omnivores because that is what we are.
Yes, and the Spartans of ancient history were all Vegans too, yet they could march, run & fight far better than other soldiers of their time!!
http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/fuhrman_dietary_myths.htm
Campbell is not vegan. He promotes a plant-based diet — not a vegan diet. (he suggests eating a little fish)
I find it hysterical that a 24 yr old writer thinks she knows more than people who actually do the research. (so much easier to be a critic of someone’s else’s work when you do none of your own)
By the way, having her mom feed her a veg diet does’t make her expert. (I thought I knew everything at 24 as well.)
Eat what makes your body feel great and keeps your weight down… I’m guessing it’s mostly fruit and veg.
and btw … this ” — without nutrient-dense animal foods, deficiencies will emerge.” is total bunk.
I’m not vegan, or a physician, and even I know that.
A friend of mine sent me this article as a critique to The China Study. Seriously? Do people actually eat up this stuff?
This website is a joke.
Every time I see something against veg*n (vegan +/or vegetarian) it’s always paid for by those capitalistic meat and dairy boards. C’mon folks, before you read AND BELIEVE another negative article on veg*nism see who’s behind it! They’re almost always pad and supported by the meat and dairy industry! Like why not have a fox guard your chicken coop?
That’s not to say that all is well in this new Green Religion! If you grow up with ethical vegetarians like I did, you appreciate it on some level or other! I generally love animals, vegetables etc. but guess what? I cheat. Yeah, I eat some dairy once and a while, and also some meat, fish and fowl, which I think is all quite foul, but… It tastes good. However when I feel arthritic, I quit cheating! Vegan or bust! Ya have to go vegan if you don’t want to be arthritic, and for some scatological reasons (you can actually GO). Also I think a nice and dysfunctional family full of violence helped turn me into a carnivore. My carnivore foster family where I lived for 1 year though wasn’t violent at all. Nor were they verbally abusive EVER. So obviously I wasn’t bad enough to warrant all those beatings, sarcastic and synical comments, Like coming from a hardcore old protestant family where hard work, being straight and what not is the rule, now you’ll see some people come out of the closet, be atheist or a layabout etc. I believe my “Green Religion” is good, but like all other religions, there will always be those who argue with us, and we argue for our new green religion, I just hope it doesn’t lead to wars like other religions have. We of what ever religion, belief system, need to wait for teachable moments, and quit protheletizing, nevermind what fellow veg#ns and God says!
Personal experience:
I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis, I was told it is incurable and to go on Corticosteroid Immunodepressants for the rest of my life.
I did some research and decided instead to go on a Vegan diet.
The Reumathologist told me I’d be going back to his practice in a wheel chair ‘begging’ for medication. That was in 2009.
This was my experience:
1- after 3 months I was nearly pain free
2- after 6 months I nearly regained all my joints movement.
3- after 8 months I was more mobile that in the previous 2 years.
4- after 8 months I bought a sailing boat and started circumnavigating the world.
5- after 4 years I am still on a Vegan diet, still sailing, and at age 61, still more agile than all my meat eating friends.
And, I make no money from Vegan websites…..
Bravo. I went on a vegan diet for 4 years, then vegetarian for another 3, for the same reasons. My joints did not really improve although my eyes, urine and tongue were incredibly clear. I looked skeletal and had little energy. It was likely there was something missing from the diet, perhaps not enough fats. How much harm did that experiment cause? As soon as I went back to meat I felt immediately better.
I am with those who believe ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison’. You need to learn what is best for your own unique constitution. Vegan diets and juicing are great for short-term cleansing and healing but over the long term may create deficiencies unless you know what you are doing. The already malnourished need building up first, otherwise they get cold and even more emaciated. Vegan diets are ‘reducing’.
I enjoyed the China Study and the message of uncontaminated food but would factor in the effects of stress, environmental toxins, vaccines, sedentary lifestyles (If you rest you rust!), emotional and energetic ‘blockages’ and the worst culprit, sugar! (Aspartame and Fructose Corn Syrup).
When deciding the truth or lack thereof of any research, I look at the research “findings and fundings”. It seems to me that the China Study research FINDINGS are sound because of its longevity and breadth; using both animal and human subjects and multiple studies over a long span of time. Its FUNDINGS were independent, not industry-sponsored. Corporations have so much power in today’s world. When it comes to research they pay for, they have a funny way of getting the results they want. So, to anyone who’s confused, that’s how I evaluate research. Hope that helps. And if you still aren’t sure, best to try the “whole foods, plant based” lifestyle for a while and see what happens.
In response to this article by 24 year old “writer, editor, researcher and blogger” Ms. Deinse Minger, I too am a writer, currently creating original content writing for company websites, having also developed from scratch my own original English language course which I taught myself at a language school in The Netherlands (having obtained my English teaching qualification in 2012), and a writer as someone who keeps a journal with extensive writings on various topics including exercise, health and nutrition.
I too, like Ms. Minger have a college qualification, a BA in Economics but unlike Ms. Minger I avoid Facebook and blogging like the plague, valuing my time as I do as the most precious commodity we have on this Earth.
Following that lengthy introduction, the point of which was not to emphasise my credentials or qualifications but rather my absolute lack of any such thing when it comes to the area of health, nutrition and biochemistry, so I feel at least equally qualified to discuss the ideas and findings of T. Colin Campbell’s ground-breaking work “The China Study”, as does the author of this westonaprice.org article.
However, I find it baffling how a 24 year old “blogger” with no qualifications or credentials in the aforementioned disciplines of study, has the audacity to write an article attempting to refute the claims and findings of a man with 40+ years experience in scientific research, a who was involved in the discovery of dioxin, recognized as one of the most deadly toxins ever found, a man who has written hundreds of scientific papers, a recipient of numerous awards for his work as a biochemist and a man who directed the most comprehensive study of diet, lifestyle and disease on humans, ever.
Ms. Minger seems to think she can denounce decades of study, research and hard work carried out by a dedicated expert in the field, T. Colin Campbell, as easily as she might “like” her friends Saturday night pizza dinner posted on Facebook or Twitter. This sort of dangerous anti-social behaviour is symptomatic of the problem with generation zombie.
Ms. Minger’s article is on the Westonaprice.org website, a website dedicated to the career of Weston A Price, a dentist who carried out research primarily on the relationship between nutrition and dental health and advocated a “nutrient dense whole foods diet”, key to which was animal fats, as the diet for optimal health.
The Weston Price Foundation, to quote from it’s own website “supports a number of movements that contribute to this objective including accurate nutrition instruction, organic and biodynamic farming, pasture-feeding of livestock, community-supported farms, honest and informative labeling, prepared parenting and nurturing therapies.” Clearly an organization with expressed interests with farming groups and organizations and the meat industry.
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Interestingly Ms. Minger references, more than once, the work of Chris Masterjohn in backing up some of her claims against the findings in “The China Study”, the same Chris Masterjohn who at the time of writing did not have any qualifications or credentials in the areas of health, nutrition and biochemistry, much like Ms. Minger, but who does have the credentials to write a foreword in MS. WInger’s first book “Death by Food Pyramid”.
With a tone a sarcasm and what smacks frankly of resentment and desperation by a wannabe health and nutrition expert, Ms. Winger proceeds to try to tackle the work of T. Colin Campbell in a vain attempt to discredit one of the most celebrated and decorated biochemists in the world.
As mentioned already, being someone who values my time I do not have much more of it to waste expanding on the above content, however there are a few points in Ms. Minger’s “critique” of “The China Study” that I would like to mention;
In his book “The China Study”, T. Colin Campbell himself, explicitly acknowledges the difficulty in proving as fact the direct cause of any disease and in this regard explains the relationship between correlation and causation and that one does not prove the other, contrary to what Ms. Minger infers.
Ms. Minger states, in relation to plant-based proteins used in research on lab rats and referenced in the book, that “it seems those plant proteins were not only PETA approved but also the least likely to turn rat livers into tumour factories”. She states this without a shred of evidence to back up this claim.
In one of her more ambitious contentions, Ms. Minger states “when we look at plant protein which the China Study argues so vigorously is cancer-protective – we find almost three times as many positive correlations with various cancers as we do with animal protein, including colon cancer, rectal cancer and esophageal cancer”. This claim is referenced to a study by none other that the esteemed, you guessed it, Ms. Minger herself!
Need we say more.
Ms. Minger, I genuinely applaud your self education and appetite for knowledge and learning and wish you well with your book and further writing. However at this stage of your career, you simply cannot write such an article attempting to rubbish the findings of a pioneering and potentially life-saving work by a recognized expert in the relevant field of study. And you certainly cannot expect to be taken seriously.
My apologies to Ms. Minger and readers for the previous incomplete version of this post, caused by a frantic attempt to curtail my time already spent writing this lengthy and tiresome reply, something which I would usually never dream of doing, much like using Facebook or most other forms of social media. But this time given the respect and admiration I have for the content of “The China Study” I felt compelled.
Cate,
You’re a 24 year old blogger, please stick to writing about topics which you can hold an educates conversation on. You have zero education in the health field.
People please, if you read the China Study or any similar work you would come to the same conclusion: any animal products are bad for us as humans. Why do people get so offended by this? It’s science people!
I used to follow Nourishing Traditions, but the biggest nutrition, health and life longevity scientific studies in history from Harvard University and the National Institutes of Health have confirmed the Oxford & Cornell Universities’ China Study. And my health has improved dramatically.
The world’s top nutritional medical health scientists and doctors have reached agreement about plant vs. animal diets. Here’s the video proof in less than eight minutes. Yeah, I’ve heard people claim that science and ‘scientific’ reports have proven their (often crazy) ideas all my life, but this is different. If you’re not sure, then these eight minutes of videos could be the most important eight minutes for your (future?) children’s lives.
The science about plant vs. animal diets has been absolutely proven since the 2009 NIH study (following over half a million people over ten years) and confirmed by two Harvard University studies (following over 100,000 people for decades) that were released in 2012. These followed the smaller (but the biggest in its day) China-Oxford-Cornell study which came to similar conclusions in 1990.
The science has become as totally proven as the medical science against tobacco became in the 1960’s. (In 1990, the China Study virtually proved it, like the 1950’s anti-tobacco science. But tobacco lawyers were still able to say that it was not “absolutely” proven.) These conclusions are now considered proven by Harvard, Oxford & Cornell Universities, as well as the NIH, which is the U.S. Federal Government’s (& the world’s) biggest, richest medical science research group.
The following videos are recorded by the world-respected Dr. Michael Gerber. (I think he’s) The only doctor in the world who surveys Every English language, peer-reviewed, scientific medical journal in the world and summarizes Every article on the topic of nutrition (usually in videos that are less than five minutes long) so that they can be understood by people who aren’t doctors or scientists. If you’re truly interested in the science of your (children’s) health, this could become your favorite health site.
I hope that you will at least watch the first three links, which give very quick summaries of the four studies I mentioned. They add up to less than eight minutes. The fourth link is a short, written post about the Harvard studies, where he responds to some (unintentionally) hilarious criticisms from “The Meat Institute”. Check out the end of the article, where he details “a few possible ways” that might explain why meat kills us! The fifth/last link is an (almost) one hour presentation that he made a few months after the Harvard studies were released, about how to keep you (and your children) alive and healthy, based on these latest studies.
“The massive NIH-AARP study looks at the relationship between meat consumption and total mortality, cancer mortality and cardiovascular disease mortality.” http://nutritionfacts.org/video/meat-mortality/
“the Harvard Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Harvard Nurses’ Health Study concluded that red meat consumption was associated with living a significantly shorter life—increased cancer mortality, increased heart disease mortality, and increased overall mortality.” http://nutritionfacts.org/video/harvards-meat-and-mortality-studies/
“The China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project directed by T. Colin Campbell and colleagues showed that chronic diseases such as heart disease are not inevitable consequences of aging.” http://nutritionfacts.org/video/china-study-on-sudden-cardiac-death/
“On Monday, the results of two major Harvard studies were published, following more than 100,000 men and women—and their diets—for up to 22 years.” http://nutritionfacts.org/2012/03/15/harvards-meat-and-mortality-studies/
“Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death: Death in America is largely a foodborne illness. Focusing on studies published just over the last year in peer-reviewed scientific medical journals…” http://nutritionfacts.org/video/uprooting-the-leading-causes-of-death/
If you want to watch Dr. John McDougall’s 9-part video series that (changed my life and I suspect will end up adding a couple of my healthiest decades to my life and) covers most of his Starch Solution book, here it is:
DR. JOHN MCDOUGALL – FIGHTING THE BIG FAT LIES WITH FAD-FREE TRUTH https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJIHyAnsG9SPtcbi4WOfWZBxUwAIfSO2c
DR. JOHN MCDOUGALL’S FREE ONLINE LEARNING PROGRAM (includes a link to the Spanish version): https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/free-mcdougall-program/
You cannot use any study period if it does not follow 100% organic fruits and vegetables as well as all organic dairy and grass feed meats and eggs. It just wont work!! Glyphosates in round up is probably linked to every systemic disease we have right now and that is on 95% of the food that 80% of america is eating 3 meals a day.
China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project directed by T. Colin Campbell?? Well great, he backed his own study to support his own book, now that makes me wanna jump off the couch. Can you say tones of Ancel Keys?
Listen, good organic fat is fine plain and simple. If you don’t eat it because you like animals and can’t think of them dying to feed us, than just say it. Balance is key, organic is even more key, and good fats are not the enemy, just make sure they are organic and not trans-fat.
Enjoy your life and food, biology will take care of the rest. I promise.
I’m not sure why you had to be so snarky? It destroys any validity you might be striving for.
Just because something wasn’t said in a nice tone doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
I don’t find criticism of others work to be useful. If there are studies and data that show eating animals will result in better health than a whole plant diet then I would prefer to see that. I read Price’s book and he didn’t specify that a diet of meat was healthier, only that the few vegetarians he observed seemed to be dominated by nearby tribes that consumed meat. His point was not that meat was good or bad but only that traditional foods are healthier compared to modern foods. Seems odd to me that this site would get caught up in the carnivore vs vegetarian debate. As science and studies continue to build evidence, it is possible the only meat Denise Minger will be eating is crow.
I think an important question to ask is what you want to learn from a study. If you want to see proof of whether eating meat or dairy products are harmful or not, an epidemiological study such as this China Project is probably not your best source of information. For definite proof, it’s better to look at intervention studies such as the 5-year intervention study by Dean Ornish that showed that coronary heart disease can only be reversed with diets that were more biased towards plant-based foods than the usual recommendations.
Given the fact that plant-based diets can prevent the most common diseases of Western civilization, however, a large-scale study such as the China Project can give a valuable detailed insight into which plant-based foods and diets could be the most beneficial to health. Apparently, wheat is not the best choice. Which may have something to do with the major changes to the genetic make-up and huge boost in gluten content during the mid-20th century.
So probably you are right that the China-study is not by itself a sufficient evidence for the benefits a plant-based diet, but it may nevertheless be an unrivaled source to guide our dietary choices. Given the existence of intervention based studies such as those by Dean Ornish, and the absence of convincing evidence of the contrary, I don’t see why the shortcoming from one study would grant taking the risk of eating animal products anyway, unless it’s the least unhealthy addiction someone can choose to distract themselves from whatever they find challenging in their lives.
About 10 years ago, I discovered the Weston A. Price Foundation and diet and dove right in. I had 3 children at the time. I started eating tons of eggs and drinking whole raw milk and eating fresh whole grains. My weight ballooned, and I had chronic stomach issues and no energy. During this time, I had a 4th child and was hoping he would be so much healthier due to this amazing diet. I noticed no difference at all, and had the worst recovery from a birth yet. I also then developed hypothyroidism. I continued on this path for a few years, until a wonderful chiropractor told me to get off dairy. It took me a few years, of experimenting and breaking my addiction to dairy, but when I did, I became a new person! I removed dairy from my children’s diet and watched miracles happen. My once sickly, violent, learning disabled child rebounded and is am amazing teenager with a wonderful disposition, no stomach aches and no behavior issues. He excels in his schoolwork and is lean and strong. Since this experience, I have shifted away from the Weston A. Price diet and have never felt better. Simply avoiding dairy and eggs has caused a 20 pound weight loss and increased energy. I am reading the China Study now, and although, I can see some bias in some of Campbell’s writing, I see some impressive research and see in my own life, what a disaster a diet high in milk, butter, and eggs was for my family. I seriously question the recommendations to gorge on milk, eggs, meat and fat, as it only led to disease, illness and lethargy in my life.
I have a very similar testimony. I never ate processed foods, drank raw milk, and followed the other advice, and got fat and unhealthy. Went on whole foods plant based diet over a month ago and I am finally losing weight. My husband’s blood glucose levels went down 100 points in 10 days. Type 2 diabetes. There is hope for Him, and that is exciting
I regret this article’s missinformation in the light of so much annectodal and scientific evidence against animal protein which always come with animal fats which are well known now to be linked to various vascular diseases.
I am interested however in pointing out the author was not the first Vegan enthusiast that jumped in to a completely plant based diet without any knowledge of nutrition, because sick because of it and had to retrace its steps. I have seen this, specially with young people. The most strict diet are way more beneficial for older people who have accumulated the effects of an empoverished diet.
I would like to address the last comment she makes (last sentences after citing the advocates of a plant based diet) saying that people will eventually come down with deficiencies if they don’t eat any animal products. This is really only true of Vit B12, which is now extremely simple substitution. This claim is not verified in science. As some one pointed out, she tries to dismantle one science to fix her personal problem of an imballanced diet which victimized her. The evidence of epidemiology of over 200 studies done with different vegetarian and vegan populations have shown the protective effect of diets based on plants. The gist of the article is misleading giving people confused partial and biased opinions about things.
I Love Weston Price and have recently skimmed through the china study. I personally found that it lacked a lot of basic information, and made the same points over and over. The points were vague and did not tell much. Also, how in the world did they get the information on soil organisms producing enough b12 for humans to live on? I just do not see the logic there. My opinion.
William Prowse
Author of the Plantar Fasciitis Survival Guide
He got the information regarding Vitamin B12 from a study that showed this phenomenon, see Mozafar AQ, “Enrichment of some B Vitamins in plants with application of organic fertilizers”
Plant and Soil 167 (1994): 305-311. If you read this research it will all be explained, without using faulty logic!
Has anyone any experience with Cancer and following the China Study diet? Has anyone read Dr John Kelly’s book “Stop feeding your cancer”?
I had a heart attack at 45. My Cholesterol was high, but not out of control 234. After a week of eating whole food vegan, my cholesterol was 181 after a month, its was 104. The human body is an input output mechanism. If you eat foods high in fat, you are going to get fat. If you eat foods high in sugar, you are going to get fat, if you eat processed foods which basically isolate either the sugar, fat or protein, you are going to get fat. Eating whole food vegan takes the intake of fat, protein and sugar to normal balanced levels. It’s also important to note, that not all vegans are the same. There are those that drink coke and eat imitation vegan meat products which are just high fat crap. If you eat a whole food vegan diet, you bring your intake level of nutrients, fiber, fat, cholesterol and protein in balance. I ate Type O and Atkins since I was 28 and at 45, I had a heart attack. Why did I have a heart attack? Because I constantly threw huge amounts of fat, protein and cholesterol into my pie hole. I got lucky, and for the second half of my life, I’m eating whole food vegan. Now that I’m a whole food vegan, I’m also disgusted with animal production and as an environmentalist, I had to wake up to the truth of Animal Production, its killing the planet faster than Crude Oil, Natural Gas and Coal combined. Watch http://www.cowspiracy.com/ it will blow your mind, if you are an environmentalist. Bottom line, I’ve been eating the China Study way for almost two months, and I feel better than I’ve felt in a decade, I the most regular I’ve ever been in my life, my sex drive is back to early 30s range and I’m not spilling the blood of an innocent animal who pollutes more than my car to get some calories.
I am wondering why no one is talking about animal welfare. There will always be a debate on whether to eat meat or not. If we are going to eat meat it should be done the most humane way possible! People should be made to watch where their meat comes from. I believe we eat too much meat it is not necessary for good health. There is a huge over consumption! Please people do research if you are eating meat know where it is coming from. It is not a pretty site to see. These animal are a commodity and are treated as such. Now I know there are some great farms out there. But it is proven that in ordered to meet the demand for meat it has to be done with mass production. We also need to think about third world countries that are starving. Could we use some of resources used for raising meat and instead grow food for them? This is more than a just eat meat not eat meat issue. There is a whole lot that is involved and we need to be looking at the big picture.
So much contradictory information, but from what I’ve read I will come down on the side of plant based diet being best. I suggest that humans evolved primarily as frugivores however clearly took to eating meat (most likely as a largely cultural affect) given it’s greater bang for buck in a natural hunter/gatherer setting.
That said, and something I’ve not read anywhere, consider actual evolutionary pressures. Nature doesn’t care about us at all – all it selects for is fitness which means the capacity to reproduce effectively.
So while we might have begun eating meat and may have some minor adaptations for doing so, the selective benefit would accrue at a relatively younger age. What I mean is that if eating meat makes people more fit (selectively) at young to middle ages but kills them at later ages, nature couldn’t care less. That would still be an effective strategy.
It seems to me that while eating meat and dairy might offer benefits to younger people in a natural setting, being an octogenarian in such a setting is not a goal. So it seems quite plausible to assume that such a diet is deleterious in the longer run. In today’s world of course we might prefer longevity over a short burst of meat fueled selective fitness.
This says nothing of the ethical question. When you consider that in Western nations food has been made into an entertainment and most people eat way too much of the wrong foods, and the industry continues to maximise ways to kill more animals with the least attention to welfare, you are left with the clear sense that we should be moving away from meat-based diets.
As far as I can see, most people can obtain sufficient nutrients from a plant based diet, and health outcomes in a modern setting are improved on that diet. Study after study supports this conclusion.
I’v been reading with interest the above comments. Paul talks about balance, but then says he eats 21 eggs a week, in the end I feel the Western diet is pure gluttony because no way is eating 21 eggs a week balanced it is out and out greed. What our ancestors ate from all countries is the key and the majority of time they ate predominantly a vegetarian diet with very little animal products, definitely not dairy products. I know of some people who eat only raw milk and they consume 20 Litres a week, why punish your body so much.
Paul how much meat, dairy and other animal foods do you eat? When Dr Atkinson died he was obese and he followed this pro animal food diet anti carbohydrate diet. I feel all this isn’t natural for humans because our teeth aren’t designed to consume huge amounts of animal foods. Milk isn’t meant to be consumed by humans, but for baby cows.
The Chinese have a good knowledge of food and that’s why they’re so healthy, however modern Chinese health is now being affected by the western diet of meat every day and huge amounts of animal food this is not natural and it is causing so much obesity worldwide and other health problems such as diabetes and bowel cancer, etc. This heavily laden European/Western animal diet is OK for some when young, but no good as we age. Why is osteoporoses so bad in countries that drink so much milk and other countries such as China where most people don’t drink milk Osteoporosis pretty much non existent? That’s because the human body is not designed to drink milk.
Maybe I’m a bit late to the party, but I’ve been reading these comments and scratching my head based on all the information given. In the China study, there is a link between animal consumption and cancer correct?
Well there is also a study between ketones in your body, and lower cancer risks. There is a study for just about everything you do. I’m sure if you ate 6 lbs of animal protein a day, it may not be good for you. But I tried to be a vegan (and I mean I really tried) for several weeks, and in the end I just wanted to kill someone. I become so angry all of the time, it was affecting me.
Then I started to do a lot of research on heart disease, because if anything is going to kill me, it’s going to be heart disease (it runs in my family). I looked at the countries diets of the lowest rates of heart disease which were Japan, France, and South Korea. What do all of these diets have in common? Absolutely nothing, their diets are all so different. Japan eats plants which are in season, high in rice, soy etc. The French diet is very high in animal protein. Now look at the highest heart rates in world, Turkmentistan, what do they eat there?? FRIED FOODS. Remember it’s not necessarily the food you eat, it’s how the food is prepared. Fried food is oxidized, and cooked in these partially hydrogenated oils.
It’s not the fat that’s bad for you, it’s how it’s prepared. Fat is a molecule, and molecules transform.
So, I agree with Dr. Campbell, and I think that most sane people would agree with Dr. Campbell… Eat a diet which plants are the main staple of your diet. Don’t eat dairy, and eat meat moderately.
Also, does the China Study mention intermittent fasting? I ask this, because I’ve found great success with intermittent fasting for 16 hours a day, and eating 8. I say this because during the study took place towards the tail end of the Cultural Revolution. We all know that the Cultural Revolution was one of the worst famines in world history. Is it plausible that the periods in which those who studied would eat have anything to do with this?
There are so many variables, it can’t be just as simple as “eat plant foods.”
Humans currently enslave, torture and murder 2 billion animals per week. That is more animals in a year than there has ever been humans alive. There is no way anyone with an ounce of compassion can justify this.The livestock industry is one of the top polluters out there by far. Guess who sponsored and catered the nutritionist conference in California? McDonald’s…. That is blatant corruption by industries that control the narrative. Time to get animal products off the menu,and end the insane amount of suffering that humans place upon other species. A vegan diet helps solve many of the world’s problems. If you understand the exponential function, you understand how unsustainable animal products are. I will stick with an independent study done By someone with integrity, like T. Colin Campbell, than with any other paid by study by the same industries that just want to sell you their cruel trash products. The AMA board, which controls medicine in this country, has lobbies like the dairy council, the sugar council, drug companies,Etc. in their board. They make sure that people stay ignorant about nutrition. Do you think they want to cure cancer? they would loose billions of dollars in chemo treatments…. A very pathetic statement is the thou became angry when you supposedly tried to become vegan…. the truth is that animal products are full of the worst negative energy out there: anger, death, suffering, murder, despair, sickness, and that is for starters… that is what goes into your body when you consume animal products, that is what those innocent animals went through. A vegan diet is the future. Period.
I’m a newbie to this whole plant protein vs animal protein debate. I couldn’t quite understand why high levels of animal protein resulted in increased cancer rates, while high level of plant based protein didn’t in rodents. My thought was that protein from any source is made up of the same amino acids. So are the different effects of different protein sources due to the difference in amino acid composition? Do high levels of certain amino acids lead to higher cancer rates in rodents? That to me would make more sense….but like I said I’m new to this so if someone could enlighten me that would be greatly appreciated!
I agree with Jim’s previous statement that it is not that simple. I am sure I can find vegans that have gotten cancer, had a heart attack, etc. Our bodies are much more complex than we will ever know and there is not just one thing that that we can do to live longer. It comes down to common sense and being smart about the decisions we make. Different things work for different people but as long as you exercise a little common sense, monitor your health and make the proper adjustments, you should be fine.
Well this is all very interesting. I recently went vegan because I found out my cholesterol was 390. Yikes. My Dr. Wants to put me on meds but they affect me badly. Pretty sure it’s the familial type. I recently tried this new keto thing and paleo but for me it just made things worse. I must admit I was a huge beef eafter. And eggs daily too. Not anymore. I’m hopeful that this will help. It’s not a one size fits all. This is the only thing I haven’t tried. I must say I noticed I feel much better. I’m able to go on long walks without feeling like I’m about to pass out. This is encouraging. Also sleeping better. Maybe this Is the way to go f o r me. I’m also A blood type which I hear does better on a vegetarian base diet. Time will tell.
I’m also just finally getting around to trying the Vegan thing. I tried vegetarian/pescatarian a few years ago but it didn’t work out for me (I’m assuming the dairy was a culprit). Are you still sticking with it?
There are many valid studies that indeed suggest that increase animal product consumption does, in fact, correlate to adverse health outcomes (regardless of the apparent flaws in Campbell’s research suggested above). That’s the best we can do as the FDA is too bogged down with issues like the dairy industry trying to sneak sugar into milk without labeling it and the constant craziness with Big Pharma — I have friends who do or have worked there, there’s no “extra” money for the FDA to go around figuring out exactly what all the compounds in a glass of milk do inside your body.
If you feel overwhelmed by the seemingly conflicted research on what to eat/what not to eat, simply AVOID PROCESSED FOODS AND TAKE CARBOHYDRATES/SUGARS IN EXTREME MODERATION. Make your own dinner most of the time, move your body in a way that is not painful for 30 minutes every day, and break your addiction to bread, sugar, cereals and CONGRATULATIONS you’re already way ahead of the game relative to your peers.
At least by eating a plant based diet sentient creatures arent being tortured so they can end up on people plates! Most people who consume meat are not only ignorant to the negative impact on their health, they are ignorant to the amount of suffering they are supporting not to mention the amount of drugs and hormones that get pumped into these poor creatures. Drugs and hormones that end up in your body when you eat meat! ‘Meat’ that was once a living animal that has suffered most of its life in an intensive animal production system! Theres also the devastating impact of animal agriculture on the environment which no one wants to take responsibility for. Eating meat is unethical, unhealthy and unsustainable!
Primates drinking bovine or other mammals breast milk and thinking it’s normal, natural and necessary will be one of the things future humans will look back on and shake their heads at the sheer absurdity.
aannndd great lake gelatin lol
I am living and working in Taiwan, married to a Taiwanese woman so feel I’m in a very good position to see objectively first hand the China study diet versus the Western Price Diet (Western diet). My diet is a mostly vegetarian one with lots of vegetables, fruit, complexed carbohydrates, soy and bean products, seafood, I never eat bird food; such as chicken, duck, etc. I occasionally eat beef and pork. I use pork bones to make soup. I never eat takeaways only home cooked food because most food you eat outside is not fit for human consumption as the restaurants add a lot of sugar and chemicals, such as MSG, color, the oil is poisonous as the same oil is used again and again.
In America 70% of the adult population are either overweight or obese and similar statistics are prevalent in other western countries, for example the USA, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, Sweden, the Pacific Countries, etc. I’m from New Zealand and about 60% of the population are either obese or overweight. I was a primary school teacher there and in a class of about 26 children 80% of them had weight problems.
In Taiwan about 15 years ago it was difficult to see any overweight people, but recently it has changed because of the influence of the western diet. In particular, the introduction of milk and more meat consumption.
Historically the Chinese have never really consumed dairy. Meat was eaten about twice a week. They consumed soy and all the research articles criticizing soy is nonsense. The studies on soy are funded by the dairy companies who ignore the fact the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans have being consuming soy in the form of tofu, soy milk and soy skin in soup for thousands of years with no side affects. One study suggests that men who consume soy will be unable to father children, but look at how huge the Chinese population is.
The Chinese people consume large amounts of vegetables, soy, fruit, grains, eggs and seafood and other meat is just used for flavouring food, but they have always used a lot of meat bones. And this is the reason they are fit and healthy looking while we caucasians come from countries where most of the population is overweight and obese. Why is this?
Actually the only Asian countries that consume dairy are the Indian countries and the Middle East (Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and etc) which have obesity, heart disease, liver and bowel cancer, diabetes and other health related problems that are similar to the west. Indian vegetarians have a really terrible diet by consuming huge amounts of dairy (raw milk), sugary food, salt, bad carbohydrates; such as cakes, oily fried breads and pastries of various sorts and sweet dairy desserts. Sugar is added to everything in huge quantities even milk.
We caucasians need to change our eating habits and follow a mainly vegetarian diet if we want to live a long life and to regain our birth right.
I remember in Weston Price’s study he said that all of the indigenous people he observed consumed animal products, but what about the Asian countries where they mainly consumed a vegetarian diet, such as the Chinese, Okinawans, Japanese, etc? The Okinawans have a history of longevity with the record of the longest living people. Why didn’t he study them? There eating habits are better and healthier than these pacific nations.
I have been interested in the study of longevity and why some people live a long life and others don’t. Is it because of genes, diet, lifestyle, etc? The one thing that stands out above everything else is that people or nations that have been the most long lived were mainly vegetarian and they ate very little animal protein. If the diet is wrong then everything falls apart.
In my country (NZ) we have many people from the pacific nations, such as Samoans, Tongans, Fijians, etc, plus our indigenous people the Maoris and it is these same people that Western Price based his research on. And there is only one word for their diet “terrible” About 90% of them are obese or overweight. They consume a Western Price recommended diet of huge amounts of animal protein on a daily basis, with little or no real vegetables or fruit and bad carbohydrates. Starchy vegetables are not that nutritious. The best vegetables are the leafy ones, such as spinach, sweet potato leaves, basically any edible leafy vegetables.
This article was written in 2012 – fast-forward to 2018 and almost all countries now list meat as a class 1 carcinogen and several breakthroughs in cancer research have been made, based on information derived from the 20-year-long “China Study”. Looks like the china study was more accurate than this article’s biased review of it. That’s why it’s cited as the longest and most thorough research into protein and human nutrition. You’re health is a matter of nutrition, not medication. Go Vegan.
Precisely my thoughts Pete.
And even if you do not care about your health that much, you still have responsibility for this planet. Since animal agriculture industry is the biggest-greenhouse gas polluter, supporting the industry and demanding more animals to be bread to it creates catastrophic consequences of unimaginable proportions. Even the UN have recently published a study and a warning to change our dietary habits or our planet is no longer. We only have one and she is dying! We have 12 years to turn this around.
And even if those two reasons are not enough for you then go vegan for the animals. For ethics, justice and the the right to share this planet without being enslaved for humane consumption, entitlement or clothing.
Globally 70 billion animals are killed for humane consumption per year and this figure does not include marine life.
Go vegan. Being vegetarian is not enough – the dairy industry is the meat industry.
Yes : )
Well it is easy to check if this is true or not. Just do it for some months.
Do you wanna check some examples:
-Look for the story of Markus Rothkranz a guy almost 60 that almost died due to the SAD diet. Now he is a raw vegan, does intermittent fasting, cleans his body and he looks 40 at most.
-Look for Bernando Lapallo who died recently with 114 years of age, disease free, still doing sex, and having a great life.
-Check Annete Larkins. People say she looks almost his husband granddaughter.
That is the power of doing what we were supposed to do. In the bible says that God created mankind to eat fruits and vegetables. Genesis 1:29
If one looks at the “blue zones” where people are most likely to live to be 100 the diet is largely plant based with very little meat consumed during the year. This includes Sardinia, Ikaria, and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica. Their plant based diets also do not include GMO plants and so also lack Roundup contamination and pesticides as found in U.S. produced wheat, corn, and soy.
What the author of ths article notably fails to make any mention of is how most of the published papers are not peer reviewed and are usually funded by the meat and dairy and drug industries. Billions of dollars in profits would be lost if everyone switched to a whole foods plant based diet and so there is a great deal of money thrown around to muddy the water, much as was done with the hazards of tobacco and leaded gasoline.
The problem with the meat and dairy diet is two-fold. The food itself promotes cancers (bowel, breast, child brain) and heart disease and diabetes and dimentia. And secondly this American diet is lacking in plant nutrients and fiber. Supplements other than vitamin B-12 are not effective when taken as a pill to get the nutrition for a healthy mind and body. Just how good is a Big Mac as compared to having a longer and more energetic life and full use of ones faculties?
68 year old Donald A Gorske 6’2″ 185 pounds eats 2 big macs with a soda every day for the last 50 years. He never eats the fries, this is 90% of his daily diet, about 1700 calories total a day and has a clean bill of health with a total cholesterol of about 160 mg/dL and he walks 6 miles a day.
A year and a half ago, I embraced a vegetarian + reduced-dairy diet. This was well before I’d heard of The China Study. I have always loved meat, but I started paying attention to how my body responded after consuming it, and I felt heavy, bloated and my joints more achy.
I recently had my annual physical, and my cholesterol dropped more than 30 points! The only change I made was in my diet. As an athlete who was once told my elevated cholesterol “must be genetic” — I no longer feel powerless to effect change within myself.
One should read, experiment, and decide for oneself what works. We shouldn’t knock something without trying it first!
One of the founders of The Weston A. Price Foundation is Sally Fallon Morell. She and her husband Geoffrey Morell, in 2009, purchased P. A. Bowen Farmstead, where they produce artisan raw milk cheese, woodlands pork, and pastured eggs and poultry. She makes money selling animal products (as is her right). Therefore it is in her best interest to oppose whole food, plant-based nutrition. However, for those interested in the most recent and best available balance of evidence published in the peer-reviewed medical literature I highly recommend information presented on NutritionFacts.org. There are no products for sale. There are no sponsors on the site. Profits from the books Michael Greger, M.D. writes goes to charity. The information on the NutritionFacts.org website is constantly updated as new (published, peer-reviewed) science comes out. It doesn’t get better than that.
The author does not make clear that the book was written as a summary of the massive China Study for lay people. The data is based on millions of people in China and their location and ethnicity and health records.
I learned in high school that the human digestive tract most closely resembles that of primates that are frugivores and is triple the length of carnivores. A carnivore passes through meat before it can cause problems unlike with humans.
The idea that all foods should be consumed raw is wrong as well as many foods become bio available only with cooking.
For vegans: what do you think had to be destroyed to grow your wheat, corn, rice, beans, soy, etc.? How about entire ecosystems that were previously filled with trees, plants, hundreds and thousands of living beings who had their homes destroyed to grow your vegan food. All of these ecosystems are now mono agriculture systems that release tons of carbon dioxide.
Interesting that some people in these comments include phrases such as “irrefutable sources for information such as T. Colin Campbell’s “The China Study,” “, in the comments for an article that clearly (and to me, convincingly) refutes many of the claims made in the book. Did you even read the article? To me, it looks like Campbell made many very poor, unscientific conclusions based on the data available – including some contradicted by his own research.