Page 72 - Fall2013

All Thumbs Book Reviews

While all cells can make glutathione, liver syn- Environmental Working Group, list strawberries, pears, grapes, lettuce,
thesis is essential. We want to “boost glutathione pepper, celery, nectarines, potatoes, spinach and others among the most
levels” by drinking raw milk and eating good contaminated.
quality animal protein. Had he used whey or raw TCC claims that his diet “is the healthiest way of eating that has ever
milk rather than purified casein, he may have been studied, and far more effective in promoting health and preventing
found totally different results: disease than prescription drugs, surgery and supplements.” It sounds like
the grandiosity of this statement should be backed by pages of research
Animal models, usually for colon studies. But alas, not one is cited. It appears be Campbell-speak and wholly
and mammary tumorigenesis, nearly al- based on his opinions.
ways show that whey protein is superior As he did in The China Study, TCC drags out the same tired evidence
to other dietary proteins for suppression in humans, such as the experiments of Esselstyn and Ornish of whom he
of tumour development. said “both showed that a plant-based diet, high carbohydrate diet controlled
This benefit is attributed to its high and even reversed advanced heart disease.” Chris Masterjohn has observed
content of cystine/cysteine and gamma- that these studies were either poorly conducted, had no control group, or
glutamylcyst(e)ine dipeptides, which failed to isolate animal foods as a variable.
are efficient substrates for the synthesis Esselstyn was a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, publishing studies
of glutathione. Various experiments on hyperparathyroidism until much later in his life when he teamed up
showed that tumour prevention by di- with TCC to promote the plant-based diet.
etary whey protein was accompanied Another reason that TCC decided to write this book is to inform people
by increased glutathione levels in serum that they have a choice when it comes to medical treatment. He relates
and tissues as well as enhanced splenic this to his wife’s diagnosis of Stage III melanoma and the response of her
lymphocyte proliferation, phagocytosis doctor when TCC wanted to show him some literature related to a 1995
and natural killer, T helper and cytotoxic study of melanoma patients at the Gerson Clinic in Mexico. (He mentions
T cell activity. that this study is required reading in his courses at Cornell.) In this study,
(Parodi PW. A role for milk proteins “Five-year survival rates of melanoma patients treated by diet therapy after
and their peptides in cancer prevention. the manner of Gerson. . . . a mostly plant-based diet remarkably increased
Curr Pharm Des.2007;13(8):813-28) survival for those with Stage III and Stage IV.”
Again we find an example of TCC’s cherry picking. What TCC didn’t
Why is TCC so down on protein? Because tell us about the “mostly plant-based diet” used in this study is that around
plant foods have precious little of it and the whole half of the patients in the study were given about a half pound of liver juice
food plant-based diet he advocates is naturally daily. After the liver juice was discontinued in 1987 because of a general
low in protein, except for soy, a favorite source campylobacter contamination in U.S. cattle at that time, the lactovegetar-
of vegan protein, which he fails to mention has a ian diet included “crude liver extract with vitamin B-12 injectable.” Dairy
GMO connection. Nor does he mention the fact was added after six weeks. Gerson felt that this alternative liver substitute
that most of the corn, cotton, some squash, and was not as effective as the raw liver juice but helped patients to stay on
now the wheat supply in the U.S. is genetically the program when they returned home. If Campbell really read the study
engineered. he would know that the diet contained both liver and dairy products.
TCC also does not mention the obvious fact In the end TCC’s wife decided not to take the treatment but only to
that vegetables and fruits are regularly sprayed continue to eat a plant-based diet and “is still in excellent health.” But
with a series of chemical pesticides and herbi- wasn’t she eating the plant-based diet prior to the diagnosis?
cides, nor does he caution his followers that they Campbell rails against statistics, lies and spin doctors, old boys’
would be well-served to eat only organic or/and networks, as well as cherry pickers. But he himself is a cherry picker and
homegrown produce. The “Dirty Dozen,” a list of an old boy. Doesn’t he have his own “old boy network,” along with Drs.
the most sprayed fruits and vegetables from the Esselstyn, Fuhrman and Ornish, who all advocate a plant-based diet?
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