(CN): The China Report

[Guest guest]

http://www.patriciaglyn.co.za/html/by_patricia.html

 

CONFESSIONS – BIOPHILE 9 - JULY 2008

 

Gary Player is a vegan – did you know that? Look, I don’t have this from

his caddie, but my source is reliable and credible enough not to doubt.

He just doesn’t seem the type, does he, our Gary? (Whatever ‘type’ we

vegans fall into.) So my immediate question on hearing this news was

“Why?”

“Because he read a book called ‘The China Report’ which convinced him

that veganism is the healthiest way to live,” so his friend replied. “And

Gary

is a health nut.”

Well, I was off after that book like a ball from a two-iron – ever eager, as

I

am, for more scientific rejoinders to the constant carp that my way of

living

is nutritionally dangerous. The cover of ‘The China Report’ bills it as “The

Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted” and, within a

couple of chapters, you realise that its author, T. Colin Campbell, has not

made that claim lightly.

Campbell has been in the field of biomedical research for about 40 years,

designing and directing large research projects into health and nutrition,

many of which have determined governmental policy in the United States.

Interestingly, he started his august professional career with a Masters

degree

in animal nutrition and (very much on the other side of the farm fence)

initially devoted his energies to finding ways of making livestock grow

bigger, faster. By his own admission, “I was on a trail to promote better

health by advocating the consumption of more meat, milk and eggs.”

Then he was seconded to the Philippines to investigate why there was such a

high prevalence of liver cancer among children (a disease normally

associated with adults.) There he discovered a dark secret: that the

children

who ate the highest animal-protein diets were the ones most likely to get

cancer.

Now this information was akin to heresy in Colin Campbell’s scientific

circles, but to his eternal credit, he decided to start an in-depth

laboratory

programme that would investigate the role of nutrition, and especially

animal protein, in the development of cancer. He must be one hell of a

fundraiser, I reckon, because for the next 27 years, this research was

handsomely sponsored by the best-regarded medical institutes in The States

(like the NIH, the American Cancer Society and the American Institute for

Cancer Research). His findings have also been published in many of the

best scientific journals. So we’re not talking about the thumb-suck author

of

some gazillion-seller ‘nutrition’ book here. Colin Campbell works under the

constant scrutiny and review of his donors, his peers and their

publications.

In his lab, and most regrettably with the unwitting, unwilling assistance of

thousands of mice, Campbell proved that animal protein is so powerful in its

effect on cancer growth that the disease could literally be turned on and

off

simply by changing the level consumed.

Next it was time to widen his scope and test his theory on human subjects.

He headed for China, because 87% of that country’s population shares the

same Han gene stock (thus obviating one important variable) and although

the amount of protein the Chinese consume varies, county by county, they

eat far, far less animal protein than Americans. Over the course of many

years, Campbell surveyed the cancer incidence of 6,500 adults in 130

villages stretching across 65 counties. When he and his team of medical

heavyweights were done, they had more than 8,000 statistically significant

associations between lifestyle, diet and disease. It was what the New York

Times termed “the Grand Prix of epidemiology.”

And what the survey revealed was pretty much what they’d found among the

lab rodents: lower animal protein intake dramatically decreased cancer

initiation and growth. They also found that there was a strong relationship

between high cholesterol and many forms of cancer and …da, da, da

….plant protein did not promote cancer growth, even at high levels of

intake.

Campbell’s book identifies animal protein as the Big Baddie in many other

health problems such as diabetes, obesity, Alzheimers, arthritis and all

manner of eye, kidney, bone and brain diseases. We don’t have the space to

go into those here so let’s skip to his chapter: “How To Eat.” He’s

unequivocal: “My recommendation is that you try to avoid all animal-based

products.” Gimme a High Five, Yo!

Later parts of ‘The China Report’ detail a sad litany of smear campaigns

against Colin Campbell and his fellow researchers – we all know how

powerful the meat, egg and dairy industries are in the United States. But he

quietly stuck to his empirical guns, inspired by what the father of

medicine,

Hippocrates, said 2,400 years ago:

“There are, in effect, two things: to know and to believe one knows. To

know is science. To believe one knows is ignorance.”

(The China Study was published in 2006 by BenBella Books, Dallas. I

ordered it from Amazon but it might be available in South African

bookshops too).

_________

 

Latest by Patricia Glyn:

 

http://www.animalrightsafrica.org/news/blog1.php/2009/09/19/patricia-glyn-challe\

nges-south-africans-with-a-conscience-to-stop-eating-eggs-from-modern-factory-fa\

rms

Patricia Glyn challenges South Africans with a conscience to stop eating

eggs from modern factory farms

 

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