The China Study
The China Study, written by T. Colin Campbell, PhD and his son Dr Thomas M Campbell, has been the most profound book Sean and I have ever read, completely changing the way we view nutrition, our eating habits and how we view chronic disease. This book was first printed in 2005 and by 2013 sold over one million. It is the most talked about book globally. The China Study examines the relationship between the consumption of animal products (including dairy) and chronic illnesses such as coronary heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer and bowel cancer. Packed with nutrition facts, research statistics and significant data that was collected over 20 years.
The China Study is based on one of the largest comprehensive studies of human nutrition ever conducted, launched via a partnership between Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventative Medicine. Since the book was publish over nearly a decade ago, influential figures like former US President Bill Clinton changed his lifestyle after a heart attack and went vegan.
Here we listed the top 10 most interesting facts of the China Study.
1) The SAD Diet
Appropriately named SAD, the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) poor in nutrition, is made up of refined and processed foods, lots of meat and lots of high-fat dairy typical diet for most Western Countries including Europe, UK and Australia. The striking fact is that cultures that eat the reverse of the standard American diet – low fat, high in complex carbohydrates, plant-based, and high in fiber – have a lower incidence of cancer and coronary artery disease (CAD). The researchers spend a lot of time citing frightening stats on obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. It’s probably the one section of the book no nutrition expert would challenge.“The China Study” summarizes the authors findings and conclude that people who eat a whole-food, plant-based diet—avoiding all animal products, including beef, pork, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese and milk, and reduce their intake of processed foods and refined carbohydrates—will escape, reduce or reverse the development of numerous diseases.
The China Study by T Colin Campbell PhD
2) The Conclusions in the China Study are based on data.
After years of controversial lab research, Dr T Colin Campbell and his researchers had to see how their lab findings played out in humans. The study they created included 367 variables, 65 counties in China, and 6,500 adults (all participants completed questionnaires, blood tests, etc.). The China Study research had more than 8,000 statistically significant associations between lifestyle, diet, and chronic disease, which also included wealth of additional research data from other sources.
3) Animal protein promotes the growth of cancer.
Dr Campbell grew up on a dairy farm, so he regularly enjoyed a wholesome glass of milk.
After The China Study research, Dr. Campbell says that in multiple, peer-reviewed animal studies, researchers discovered that they could actually turn the growth of cancer cells on and off by raising and lowering doses of casein, the main protein found in cow’s milk.
Whole Food Plant-based Beets with Dairy free Cashew Feta
The 4 stages of cancer, stage 1 the “initiation”, stage 2 the “promotion”, stage 3 the “progression” and the final stage 2 “death”. The “initiation” stage is when the cancer prone cells are formed like a seed. The “promotion” stage needs the right conditions to multiply, if any of the factors are denied or missing the cancer prone cells will not grow. This stage 2 can be REVERSED. Dietary factors become so important, cancer growth flourishes when there are more promoters than anti-promoters which in turn prevail cancer growth by slowing it down or stopping it. The progressive stage begins when a bunch of advanced cancer cells progress in their growth. There cancer cells wander from the initial site of the body and invade neighboring or distant tissues. This is called “metastasizing”. The food you eat affects the way your cells interact with carcinogens, making them more or less dangerous, the authors explain. “The results of these, and many other studies, showed nutrition to be far more important in controlling cancer promotion than the dose of the initiating carcinogen,” they state.
North America, Europe, Australia and wealthier Asian Countries (Japan, Singapore) have very high rates of colorectal cancer, while Africa, Asia and most of Central and South America have very low rates of this cancer. Contrary to what many believe, cancer is not a natural event. Adopting a healthy diet and lifestyle can prevent the majority of cancers.
Excerpt from “The China Study”: Controlling cancer through nutrition was, and still is, a radical idea. But if this weren’t enough, one more issue would yield explosive information: did it make any difference what type of protein was used in these experiments? For all of these experiments, we were using casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein. So the next logical question was whether plant protein, tested in the same way, has the same effect on cancer promotion as casein. The answer is an astonishing “NO.” In these experiments, plant protein did not promote cancer growth even at the higher levels of intake.
We initiated more studies using several different nutrients, including fish protein, dietary fats and the antioxidants known as carotenoids [and] measured the ability of these nutrients to affect liver and pancreatic cancer. The results of these, and many other studies, showed nutrition to be far more important in controlling cancer promotion than the dose of the initiating carcinogen (aflatoxin) The idea that nutrients primarily affect tumor development during promotion was beginning to appear to be a general property of nutrition and cancer relationships.
4) Heart disease can be reversed through nutrition.
Dr Colin Campbell also shares the work of other respected physicians and supports their own data’s conclusions, particularly Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn and Dr Dean Ornish research and study on heart disease. Dr. Esselstyn decided to test the effects of whole foods, plant-based diet on people with established coronary disease. By using a minimal amount of cholesterol-lowering medication and a very low-fat, plant-based diet, Dr Esselstyn has achieved the most spectacular results ever recorded in the treatment of heart disease. There are several types of blood cholesterol, including LDL and HDL cholesterol. LDL is the “bad” kind and HDL. is the “good” kind. In the China Study higher levels of the bad LDL cholesterol also were associated with Western diseases. Animal-based foods were correlated with increasing blood cholesterol. With almost no exceptions, nutrients from plant-based foods were associated with decreasing levels of blood cholesterol.
Whole Foods Plant-based, The China Study
Dr Caldwell Esselstyn is a cardiologist, a physician and researcher at one of the most renowned cardiac centers in America – The Cleveland Clinic. He started his research and treated 18 patients with established coronary disease with a whole foods, plant-based diet. Not only did the intervention stop the progression of the disease, but 70 percent of the patients saw an opening of their clogged arteries.
Dr. Dean Ornish, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, completed a similar study with consistent results, encouraging that heart disease can legitimately be reversed.
5) Carbs are not the enemy.
Highly-processed, refined carbohydrates like white flours, breads, cakes are your enemy and bad for you but plant foods are full of healthy carbs. The safe proteins are from plants including wheat and soy. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are the healthiest foods you consume and they are primarily made of carbohydrates.
Research shows that diets like Atkins or South Beach which is Paleo can have dangerous side effects. While they may result in short-term weight loss, you’ll be sacrificing long-term health. Dietary fat is an indicator of how much animal-based food is in the diet. It is almost a perfect match. Higher fat consumption is associated with higher blood levels of estrogen during the critical years of thirty-five to forty-four years… and higher blood levels of the female hormone prolactin during the later years of fifty-five to sixty-four years. These hormones are highly correlated with animal protein intake and milk and meat.
6) Diseases plants can ward off.
It’s not just cancer and heart disease that respond to a whole foods, plant-based diet, according to Dr T Colin Campbell and Dr Thomas Colin Campbell. Their research showed it may also help protect you from chronic diseases, diabetes, obesity, autoimmune diseases, bone, kidney, eye, and brain diseases. Food is our medicine, plants are important to protect and our family’s health. Dietary fiber is exclusively found in plant-based foods. If we don’t consume enough fiber, we are susceptible to constipation-based diseases, including large bowel cancer, diverticulosis, hemorrhoids and varicose veins. The China Study results showed that fiber intake was consistently associated with lower rates of cancers of the rectum and colon. High-fiber intakes were also associated with lower levels of blood -cholesterol. Of course, high fiber consumption reflected high plant-based food consumption. foods such as beans, leafy vegetables and whole grains are all high in fiber.
7) Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board
Healthiest people are those who eat plant-based foods.
“There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants,” the authors say. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest. The findings are concrete:
“People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease. People who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest.”
The colors of fruits and vegetables are derived from a variety of chemicals called antioxidants and these chemicals are almost exclusively found in plants. They are only present in animal-based foods to the extent that animals eat them and store a small amount in their own tissues.
8) The takeaway is simple: Eat plants for health.
Healthiest People eat a plant-based diet.
People who ate the most animal-based foods got the most chronic disease.
Dr T Colin Campbell states that people who ate the most plant-based foods were the healthiest”. Eat more whole food plant-based foods it can be an easy salad to delicious dishes. By putting as many plants on your plate as possible at every meal you are doing your body and health a favor. Antioxidants in plants work in our bodies the same way they work in plants. It is a wonderful harmony.
The China Study has 417 pages packed with nutrition facts and research stats. Highly recommend everyone to read this book and recover your health.
9) Macular Degeneration
Macular Degeneration is the leading cause of irreversible blindness among people over age sixty-five. Two studies, each involving a team of experienced researchers at prestigious institutions, provide compelling evidence that food can protect against macular degeneration. The findings of these two studies suggested that as much as 70-88% of blindness caused by macular degeneration could be prevented if the right foods are eaten. Researchers found that a higher intake of total carotenoids was associated with lower frequency of macular degeneration, especially the carotenoids found in dark green leafy vegetables. Green leafy vegetables, carrots and citrus fruits are all good sources. Eating antioxidant-containing foods, especially those containing the carotenoids, will prevent most blindness cases resulting from macular degeneration.
In 1988, researchers in Wisconsin began to study eye health and dietary intakes in over 1,300 people. Ten years later, they published a port on their finding. Those who consumed the most spinach had 40% less cataracts. The two eye conditions, macular degeneration and cataracts both occur when we fail to consume enough of the highly colored green and leafy vegetables. In both case, excess free radicals, increased by animal-based foods and decreased by plant based foods are likely to be responsible for these conditions.
10) Nutrition is often not taught to physicians in relation to public health problems
The Authors wrote “Nutrition is often not taught to physicians in relation to public health problems, like obesity, cancer, diabetes, etc. You should not assume that your doctor has any more knowledge about food and its relation to health than your neighbor and co-workers. The medical status quo relies heavily on medication and surgery at the exclusion of nutrition and lifestyle“.
“The only type of research that is funded and recognized is research on drugs. Research on the causes of disease and non interventions simply doesn’t occur in the medical education settings“.
After reading and watching documentary interviews with T Colin Campbell PhD rang alarm bells for Sean and I so we decided not just to write about whole food plant based foods but study nutrition, plant-based cooking without oils, sugars and processed foods to help anyone wishing to transition and change their lives from omni or vegetarian and embrace a healthier diet through a whole food plant-based lifestyle.
