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The China Study
Health | March 06, 2015
A few of you guys have brought up a well-intentioned and pretty well-regarded book called The China Study. Written by T. Colin Campbell, a professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, the book promotes a 100 percent plant-based diet – basically veganism. Professor Campbell is against any and all animal-based products and believes his study and the book that followed prove that a diet consisting of any animal products are directly linked to a bunch of chronic illnesses including heart disease and cancer.
As most of you know I’m all about fruits and vegetables – the more the better. There are vital elements (vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc.) contained in fruits and vegetables that are essential for our health and wellbeing.
Still, I’m not sold on the idea that if we consume animal products we are increasing our risks of illness and disease and that they are simply not good for us. Professor Campbell’s book and study is quite popular, but that does not mean it isn’t somewhat misleading and inaccurate.
I pretty much fried my brain reading and rereading articles and blog posts about The China Study. One consistent theme that kept showing up is that Professor Campbell may have misrepresented the data he gathered for his book.
For example, Denise Minger, a well known raw food advocate, did an incredibly thoughtful analysis of The China Study found here. It’s a long and somewhat difficult read, but her information is well researched. Minger gathered and analyzed all the raw data used in Campbell’s book. One major twist she found (among others) in the study was that there is a region in China called Tuoli where animal products made up to 45% of the diet and, yet, the people living there showed no greater increase in chronic disease! In fact, the people of Tuoli were considered very healthy, even healthier than some vegan regions in China even though they ate more animal products than most Americans!
If you really want a fun headache you can check out this written debate between Loren Cordain, another well known professor and researcher, and Campbell. Cordain argues for animal products in this exchange and insists that they are good for us. It’s also important to note that Cordain also cites 164 studies to back up his claims!
I’m all for anyone committing to a vegan diet if they wish to do so. However, I firmly believe that animal products such as grass-fed butter and dairy can be beneficial and not harmful. The China Study is very interesting food for thought (yeah I said that), but it doesn’t seem very convincing especially when broken down and analyzed.
I’m going to give my poor eyes a rest after all that reading :). What do you think about The China Study?
Private Member |
I personnaly think animal products are healthy and necessary for our body but ONLY when animals are well treated, fed with food they must normally eat (grass for cows, sheeps and goats), free range chichen and pork, wild and sustainable fishes !! I will add game animals cause its probably the best meat you can eat according to me, if you are lucky enough to find some.
I eat only one or twice a week red meat as you can easily switch with other protein sources in a week (between chicken, fish, pork, rabbit, etc..)
To follow your meals, you can do what I do, writing down your menus for the week, so you can be sure never have too much red meat (and also gain a lot of time to make your shopping and cooking !!), and have a well balance meals every week (and why not have one vegan day per week and cook some eggs, rice or quinoa based meals)
By the way, thank you for the protein debate that I will read this weekend 🙂
Private Member |
pilot butte, saskatchewan, canada
I agree with you totally Stephanie. I have read a lot written by Loren Cordain and follow a paleo lifestyle as closely as I can and feel the best I have ever felt in my life because of it. Having moved from the UK to Canada, I now find it extremely hard to find out the provenance of my foods. I had to laugh the other day when the fish was advertised as **** farmed **** like they were proud of it??!!! I haven’t eaten lamb since I was 13 when I found out about the way it was slaughtered in the UK. I wish Canada would catch up with animal welfare (and food labeling) and it was easier to find grass fed meet and free range chicken (and pork). I have to say, the taste difference in grass fed beef is quite amazing! Whatever ‘diet’ anyone chooses to follow, could be improved just by reading labels, and like you say, keeping track of how you fuel your body.
Private Member |
Exactly, but I do agree that it is really difficult and confuse to choose the good products, cause even when they are labelled “bio” or whatever, it doesn’t necessary mean they are good…
Private Member |
It doesn’t matter if the animals are “treated well”. That’s like saying “that inmate had a nice dinner and we gave them a huge before the electric chair”. Animal still dies. No way around it. And they have no say in it. Looking at it your way is living in denial of what you’re contributing to and justifying supporting killing a creature that can’t speak up for itself.
Private Member |
Completely agree. Only agreeing with some things on here. Don’t want to start an argument with anyone. 🙂
Private Member |
pilot butte, saskatchewan, canada
Yes, the animal still dies, I eat meat, I always will. I’m not living in denial of that, I just don’t want to cause undue suffering to do that. In my opinion it does matter how that animal was treated, but, agree to disagree.
Private Member |
perth, wa, australia
I completely agree with you Dru, they have just as much right as us to live and shouldn’t be subjected to any cruelty and murdered for us to eat. I became a raw vegan purely because I love animals so much. We do not need meat to survive and can get all our essential nutrients, protein, calcium and vitamins purely from plant sources I used to eat meat, processed foods etc…I went vegetarian for 7 years and now been raw vegan for over a year. Over the transition I have noticed how much better I feel, look, sleep and how much extra energy I have, also I haven’t been sick at all over the last year. I have my bloods checked every 6 months and the doc says my iron, calcium and B12 levels are higher than a meat eater. Each to their own as this subject is huge and open to debate. I am totally behind Professor Campbell’s research as I am living proof to the benefits of raw eating 🙂
Private Member |
AWESOME LEFKI, I totally agree with you. I have been vegan for 6 months and raw vegan for about a week. I read the China Study and I think animal products are detrimental for health. People just try to find excuses. By the way, “free range”, “organic”, etc do not mean the animals are not mistreated. Check Earthlings on youtube if you do not believe me. It is just to sell they products at a higher price that they write that on their packages. Anyway, I don’t want to make a fight. I absolutely love Zuzka, I think she is an amazing person and she is really generous. Even if I disagree the low carb approach she is preaching. I still think her workouts are really effective and that’s the only coach with who i enjoy working out, she is motivating.
Private Member |
I understand your point of view, but keep in mind that vegan people do also, unfortunately, participate to the killing of millions of animals by supporting large grains farming who use tons of poisons to kill all kind of insects, which kill all kind of other animals on the food scale (including us… )
So yes , I do thank the animal who died to nourish my stomach, without abusing of any kind of meat and without buying whatever piece of flesh when I don’t know where it comes from
Private Member |
‘Increased access to process foods”- what do you think they are feeding the animals? I sat next to a chicken farmer on a plane once. He told me that chickens are fed a ‘vegetarian’ diet that consists of a pellet that is made up of all the surplus food from major corporations – so crackers, chips, cookies bread- you name it they buy it and they mash it up into a pellet…this is not what our animals were meant to eat. I developed the worst acne in my twenties- which was right around the year they started feeding cows a similar pellet, and using a different kind of hormone to make them larger more likely to produce milk at a faster pace- the cause of my acne was a newly developed resistance to lactose… I just think it’s really hard to trust what is being fed to animals even when it says so on the label. Cage free isn’t always real either. So how can we believe ‘grass fed’ cows is real too?
Private Member |
I’ve only read snippets of it, but to be honest I don’t even really read nutritional studies anymore. I used to read them all the time, but it was frustrating and confusing since you find so many contradicting each other (some even siting the same sources to prove opposing views!). I just try to follow common sense when it comes to diet since it’s not like I’m training to be a world class athlete or anything. I do follow a vegan diet, but it is mostly for ethical reasons. I’m sure some in the vegan community would shun me for this, but I don’t necessarily believe that a vegan diet is the one and only supreme diet for health.
Private Member |
The evolution of man derived from his ability to eat from a variety of food sources – plants, seeds, dairy, AND meat (from the woolly mammoth to chicken to fish). Our bodies needs nutrients from all these sources for peak development and performance. The increase in rates of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes can more readily be traced to increased access to hyperprocessed foods on supermarket shelves than to any one food group.
I will concede there are bodies that perform optimally with more or less volumes of some food groups. In other words, some people thrive on a vegetarian diet while others feel fatigued and lose muscle mass. There are people who are lactose intolerant, so obviously their bodies are not optimized by dairy consumption. Just as some people are runners, others are weight-lifters, and others are Warriorz, there is not a one-diet-fits-all for everyone.
Private Member |
I am superimpressed that you read all that stuff even if you firmly believe that animal products are beneficial! I agree there is food for thought and your eyes and everything probably need a rest !
I think debates are tough though because everyone has reasons and facts to prove that his/her way is the best. There is nothing like trying things and seeing for yourself. ?
I often see things as : Who are you and how do you feel when thinking of food? (They say we are greatly influenced by our microbian flora.) I think eating for nourishment is best than because of an addiction. E.g. if I think about cheese, it realIy feels like neediness and I do not feel like myself, therefore doubt that I really need it! This might be relevant to the situation when you said you could not possibly eliminate meat from your diet..
well, thoughts are messy as this little text is. I would love to check the box ‘send as private message’ rather than publicly on your beautiful website. Or if there would be a : delete in [x] hours button so everything does not have to be so permanent. (I always erase my comments before posting after spending half an hour writing them, that’s a shame!)
thank you for being inspiring and yourself and everything.
Lots of love, xx
Private Member |
nj
I did read this book a long time ago and I think he did bring up a lot of good points. I think there is enough evidence (from multiple sources) to show that too much meat and dairy will put your body in a more acidic environment and that is what can cause a lot of problems. We should be eating a variety of foods and not focus all our meals around meat.
Something else I remember from the book that I also found really disturbing is how much the dairy industry (as least here in the U.S.) have brainwashed us to think that cow’s milk is the only good source of calcium and as a marketing scheme forced milk programs into schools at a young age to get kids “hooked” on milk early on. I agree with the standpoint that cow’s milk is supposed to be for baby cows, not humans, especially at the mass consumption we use it. Which ultimately has led to the horrible conditions the dairy cows are put into.
I think the main takeaway from these types of books is that it isn’t necessarily meat that is the problem, but the industry itself. The animals are extremely mistreated and pumped full of crap, and that needs to stop. We need better quality meat sources.
Again, this is all from what I see in the U.S.
Private Member |
Many people , many truths.
Best thing for each individual is to do what they BELIEVE is BEST for them.
Personally I eat Veggies, fruits , meat and grains and CHOCOLATE (it’s that time of the month;) . And sorry Mr Colin
B.
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I I feel sorry for Eskimos, they would starve…
Private Member |
I’m sure that we all are different and we therefore benefit from different foods. One also much discussed theory is the blood group diet by dr. D’adamo. Basically it says that different blood types benefit and gets harmed from different nutritials. For example type O benefit from animal products (excluding milk), while type A benefits from eating vegetarian, type B benefits from diary products and AB is mixture of A and B and so on. As always, this is much discussed and debatted but I think the greatest wisdom in this is the fact that different people benefit from different things.
Private Member |
Hi Z,
Thank you for sharing information about this, and many other nutrition topics. This area is one of my passions and I’m glad we have that in common as well. I was vegan for 5 months at one point, and I found it very difficult to sustain my protein intake. Granted, I was a full-time university student so it was quite challenging!
Anyway, I’d be very interested in reading your thoughts on the benefits and risks of regular coconut oil consumption. There seems to be a trend in the last few years that suggests it’s healthy, despite its high level of saturation. Perhaps people think this because it has virtually no cholesterol. If that’s the case, what most people don’t realize, though, is that food cholesterol does not raise blood cholesterol as dramatically as saturated fat does.
So, if the number one dietary determinant of LDL cholesterol is saturated fat, which is a direct link to heart disease risk in America, why is coconut oil seen as healthy for regular use?
I’ve tried finding credible research that it is in fact healthy, but I can’t find any. Please help! All the major organizations such as the American Heart Association and the FDA advise very limited use of it.
This topic is especially important to me because I’m at special risk for strokes and blood clots, and while I’m not rushing to use coconut oil in all my recipes, I would still love to know the truth. I hope you can help me find it.
Thank you,
Helen
Private Member |
balestrand, norway
You’re right, the hype is ridiculous over coconut oil. What I’ve learned is that it is different than animal fats, and some of the fats are antibacterial, and benefit the immune system. However, it can raise LDL, the bad cholesterol. It also raises HDL, the good cholesterol, but high HDL is not as protectice as high LDL is destructive. If that makes sense.
Private Member |
Instead of reading, researching and checking out what this one said vs what that one said, I simply tried being a high carb, low fat, raw vegan for 30 days. You can’t read, research or study about the intricate changes that will happen to your body. You just have to experience it…you have to live it. I could have never understood how much better I would be as a person…so many things changed, both tangible and intangible. I couldn’t have anticipated the difference that getting meat and meat products out of my body permanently would make. Really loving being vegan!
Private Member |
I started reading that book some time ago, didn’t have a patience to finish it, because English is not my first language and it was hard.
I think its mostly about the balance. If you eat too much of something, especially something unhealthy, it won’t be good for you. There is so many different people in the world, not only with differrent bodies but also different lifestyles!
I believe its better to eat whole foods than supplements an since we need source of B12, that means that our body needs some animal foods.
Some people do better if they eat more meat, some with less meat.
Animals are hurt, yes. That’s why we should eat organic meats and diary.
But there are also the very small animals in the ground that may be hurt when they are sprayed with pesticides and other chemicals. So talking about animals deaths, we should go organic all out. Because there are not only cows and goats out there, but also millions other species who live and are beneficial to our system as long they are not killed.