The China Study

[DianeVegan]

I just finished reading "The China Study" and found it to be well researched and fascinating in its implications for ominivores and "junk food vegans." It is not a book for everyone as it requires the desire to read and comprehend some science (although I think they do a great job of making the science understandable for those with no scientific background).

The book also contains a sobering look at the supplement industry. For those who take supplements, the book is an eye-opener. It's almost as bad as the pharmaceutical and medical supply industries in its narrow view of health and profit.

The book also gives a very compelling theory on why so many western-society girls get eary menarche and why those same women have so many symptoms during menopause.

But, of course, the bulk of the book looks at nutrition and diseases of affluence (ie, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity). I wish I could give this book to every patient I see in the hospital. It should be required reading for physicians, teachers, and parents. At the very least, dietary treatment should be offered along with options like surgery, drugs, supplements, detox, and the myriad of "treatments" that don't treat anything but symptoms.

I urge all of you to read the book if you have the desire, and to particularly pay attention if you have been worried about getting enough protein or are a consumer of processed foods.

Okay, I'll stop now.

The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and Thomas M. Campbell II

[Pilaf]

I've recently read this book. Twice. And then I let my grandmother and uncle read it. The next week after they read it, I see them chugging down milk because "a doctor on tv this morning said it was healthy!!"

Yeah... well, at least one person in my family has the good sense to follow GOOD medical advice.

[Kevster]

I've finally ordered a copy... The Uni can have it when i'm finished.

[Pilaf]

Yeah. I am considering dropping mine off as a free gift somewhere sometime. I don't really need it any longer now that I've read it.

[Biome]

read up buttercups
i started 12 books...
to not be bothered
nor bored
all the while

[Pilaf]

.....A poem?

[Jacqui]

Thanks for the book review Diane.
Eve also mentioned it on another thread. Sounds like a must read.
I think I'll order it today!

[Panda]

I got the book for christmas, I find it very sad that these poor ignorant animal protein consuming people are dying of all these diseases. 4 people I know in the last month have got breast cancer and are having chemo. It makes me sick what this world brainwashes people with. This book is the best book I have read for a long time and I am going to make everyone I am concerned about read it to. Then they can choose for themselves if they want to risk eating the flesh of innocent animals to make them sick and die younger then what they should have to.

[eclectic_one]

I've gone on and on about this book on other threads. This book is what made me decide to change from lacto-ovo veggie to pure vegan. After the book pulled the wool from my eyes, I of course discovered MANY other (less selfish) reasons to stay vegan.

As far as what Pilaf said: The next week after they read it, I see them chugging down milk because "a doctor on tv this morning said it was healthy!!" Unfortunately, as Dr. Campbell mentioned himself, MOST doctors get next to no nutritional training, so they just trust what studies come out (again, Dr. C mentions how many studies are funded by the dairy board, the egg industry, etc.) and what pharmaceutical companies tell them. Of course these studies will find "favorable" results and the drug companies want us to keep killing ourselves with food so that they can sell us a medication for the "ailment." As Dr. C mentions, most Americans hear so much conflicting info and usually don't know who FUNDED the study, so they just decide to go with what they already wanted to do anyway. I know my dad watches House Call on Fox news and will say, "Dr. Rosenthal said...," I'm tired of saying that I'd trust a Ph.D. in nutritional science (Dr. C) and other doctors (Dr. McDougall, Dr. Ornish) with DIRECT studies than a doctor who's trusting untrustworthy junk science. (For instance, Dr. Rosenthal is always saying to take fish oil, that shrimp has the type of cholesterol that lowers bad cholesterol, etc.)

DianeVegan, I agree with you when you said: I wish I could give this book to every patient I see in the hospital. It should be required reading for physicians, teachers, and parents. At the very least, dietary treatment should be offered along with options like surgery, drugs, supplements, detox, and the myriad of "treatments" that don't treat anything but symptoms. Unfortunately, as Dr. C (and Dr. McDougall) points out, most in the "health industries" think you're a fringe animal rights nut if you try to encourage non-medical interventions like a vegan diet, chiropractic, etc. I know I just saw a commercial about a new cholesterol-lowering medication where they pay lip-service to the role of diet and exercise, but the whole time I was thinking, "well, if they ate a whole-foods, plant-based diet, they probably wouldn't need it at all." (I guess this is one of my pet peeves, so I'll stop now, especially since I already went on and on about this on the "stupid quacks" thread )

[eclectic_one]

BTW, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DianeVegan

[DianeVegan]

Thanks, Vaderesque.

[coconut]

I've just started reading this book. I've already learnt some very surprising things. I never realised how dangerous animal protein is. According to the author cancer growth can literally be turned off by removing animal protein from a person's diet.

It's a shame Dr. Campbell was so reliant on animal experiments to get some of his results. He even acknowledges this early on in the book. Apparently he did look for alternatives but decided there was no way he could make progress in his study without experimenting on rats and mice. This is undoubtedly a book which advocates a vegan, whole-foods diet from a health perspective, not an ethical one. Although I still haven't finished it, it looks like an amazingly airtight scientific proof that human beings aren't designed to eat animal foods.

[Korn]

I haven't read The China Study, but saw this about The China Study II today... looking at the publishing dates (of the studies and the book), it seems that the Campbell-book covers The China Study II - can anyone familiar with the book confirm this?

China Study II: Switch to Western diet may bring Western-type diseases

By Roger Segelken

The long-term health benefits to Chinese and other Asian people who have traditionally existed on a primarily plant-based diet might be lost as more people in Asia switch to a Western-style diet that is rich in animal-based foods.

That conclusion is being drawn by some scientists after reviewing results from the latest survey of diets, lifestyles and disease mortality among Chinese populations -- this one comparing current dietary habits in Taiwan and mainland China -- and measuring them against a time when fewer meat and dairy products were available in rural China.

Preliminary results of "China Study II," the follow-up to the China-Oxford-Cornell Study on Dietary, Lifestyle and Disease Mortality Characteristics in 65 Rural Chinese Counties, or "China Study I," were discussed on June 16 at the Congress of Epidemiology 2001 in Toronto by T. Colin Campbell of Cornell, Sir Richard Peto of the University of Oxford, Dr. Junshi Chen of the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine and Dr. Wen-Harn Pan of Academia Sinica in Taiwan.



Campbell, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry, also discussed China Study II June 25 at a press briefing on the Cornell campus.

"With the new data from mainland China, along with the fascinating new data from Taiwan now in hand, we will have the opportunity to explore dietary and disease mortality trends," Campbell said. "We will see how fast dietary changes in rural China -- preceded by earlier changes in Taiwan -- result in the development of Western diseases."

Some analyses of data from China Study I, which was conducted among thousands of rural families in mainland China, linked that population's low incidence of such Western health problems as cardiovascular disease, some cancers, obesity and diabetes to plant-based diets that were low in animal products. China Study I is now regarded as the most comprehensive study of diet, lifestyle and disease ever completed. Data from the study was first published in an 896-page monograph (1990) and resulted in more than 50 scientific publications.

Planned since 1987, China Study II was designed to re-survey the same mainland Chinese population as China Study I, in addition to a few new sites in mainland China and a new population of 16 counties in Taiwan. China Study II was directed by the three collaborators in the first study and by Dr. Win-harn Pan. When it started in 1987-88, it was the first collaborative research study between mainland China and Taiwan. Data from China Study II are now freely available at an Oxford University web site: http://www.ctsu.ox.ac.uk/projects/cecology1989/.

Both surveys afford an opportunity to investigate the effect of dietary change from the typical plant-based diet of rural China to a Western-style diet that includes more animal-based foods, as consumed in urban China and in Taiwan. "Even small increases in the consumption of animal-based foods was associated with increased disease risk," Campbell told a symposium at the epidemiology congress, pointing to several statistically significant correlations from the China studies:

Plasma cholesterol in the 90-170 milligrams per deciliter range is positively associated with most cancer mortality rates. Plasma cholesterol is positively associated with animal protein intake and inversely associated with plant protein intake.
Breast cancer is associated with dietary fat (which is associated with animal protein intake) and inversely with age at menarche (women who reach puberty at younger ages have a greater risk of breast cancer).
For those at risk for liver cancer (for example, because of chronic infection with hepatitis B virus) increasing intakes of animal-based foods and/or increasing concentrations of plasma cholesterol are associated with a higher disease risk.
Cardiovascular diseases are associated with lower intakes of green vegetables and higher concentrations of apo-B (a form of so-called bad blood cholesterol) which is associated with increasing intakes of animal protein and decreasing intakes of plant protein.
Colorectal cancers are consistently inversely associated with intakes of 14 different dietary fiber fractions (although only one is statistically significant). Stomach cancer is inversely associated with green vegetable intake and plasma concentrations of beta-carotene and vitamin C obtained only from plant-based foods.
Western-type diseases, in the aggregate, are highly significantly correlated with increasing concentrations of plasma cholesterol, which are associated in turn with increasing intakes of animal-based foods.
Analyses of data from the China studies by his collaborators and others, Campbell told the epidemiology symposium, is leading to policy recommendations. He mentioned three:

The greater the variety of plant-based foods in the diet, the greater the benefit. Variety insures broader coverage of known and unknown nutrient needs.
Provided there is plant food variety, quality and quantity, a healthful and nutritionally complete diet can be attained without animal-based food.
The closer the food is to its native state -- with minimal heating, salting and processing -- the greater will be the benefit.
June 28, 2001

[Korn]

Dr. Campbell responds to Weston Price Foundation criticisms of his bestseller, The China Study; talks about vitamins and the vegan diet; discusses his views on fish. For more info debunking the Weston Price Foundation, see: http://www.vegsource.com/articles2/f...tary_myths.htm

It is also interesting to note that Weston Price's dietary advice has been abandoned by the people now running his foundation. Price actually advised his nieces and nephews to eat a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet as the healthiest diet, see: http://www.vegsource.com/news/2009/1...oundation.html

[Korn]

Link: "China Study Author Colin Campbell Slaps Down Critic"

[starlight]

Fans of Dr Campbell's work (and I guess that would include all vegans who know about him) may be interested to read this: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/academicfreedom/

[Tofukitty]

Link: "China Study Author Colin Campbell Slaps Down Critic"

Love Minger's credentials:
''23-year-old Minger lists her educational and professional qualifications on her Facebook page as writer, Catholic school teacher, summer camp instructor, and "Professional Sock Puppeteer."

Obviously in the same intelectual and educational circle as Dr. Campbell. From the article it seems like Minger's out to get Campbell but so far isn't backed by any pro-meat lobby. Not hard to figure out why, she's hardly qualified. People who have not made any effort to inform themselves about things they like to debate should really shut the f*** up. This is my pet peeve with meat eating people who like to argue with me. I love pointing out that my personal library contains no less than 15 books about nutrition and vegan nutrition and then ask them how many books they've read about the nutritional content of the food they eat (haven't met one yet). Personally, no one will ever find me debating quantum physics because I know nothing about it.

[Mymblesdaughter]

I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say that I gave this book to my Dad for his birthday. My Mom has been vegetarian for a long time and eats very little dairy but my Dad has continued to eat some meat especially when he was out at restaurants etc. Anyway Mum phoned me the other day to say he had decided to stop eating meat. I think this is quite a step for him. I'm a bit annoyed that he decided to give up meat for his own health rather than for animals but hopefully as many people say once you give up eating meat you are more open to see the cruelty involved. I've been vegetarian for 35 years 17 of those vegan and my Mum has been vegetarian for about 20 so for anyone out there who has given up on your family you never know.

[Korn]

Here's a shorter clip about The China Study:

[KathyH360]

After reading this book, I immediately switched off milk - I had already stopped eating red meat - and now serious about learning the vegan lifestyle. If the fear of cancer doesn't turn you off animal protein, the cruelty to the animals and harmful eco effects of large scale farming should.

[BeetIt]

Kathy!
i hope you were successful! Going from vegetarian to vegan is the best decision a person can make for their health.
I can't wait to read this book. I have seen many articles and clips about Dr. Campbell and have been so impressed.