The China Study by T. Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell

5/5 rating.

Read January 27, 2019.

There is an entire body of scientific work supporting that a healthy diet can not only lower your chances of getting cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, kidney stones, MS, Type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and autoimmune diseases, but actually even maybe reverse some of these debilitating diseases. I realize that this may sound far-fetched, and like I am making this up, but the data in scientific studies is overwhelming, and is well-documented in the wonderful and illuminating book, The China Study. I have pulled a ton of quotes from this book as I was astonished at how little this information has been shared to the general public! (All of these quotes and charts are directly from the book, and are not owned by me, but the property of Colin and Thomas Campbell. The quotes and included charts are purely for educational purposes to spread the message.) If you have any questions or doubts, get yourself a copy and review the documented studies that are all cited.

Obviously, the most important thing for everyone to know next is what is this, more or less magical, healthy diet!?! There are constant new fad diets going around, is it a low-carb diet? Atkins? Paleo? Actually, as shown below, these low-carb diets have an array of possible adverse side-effects (this is a bit of an understatement as these include “sudden death” and other very serious issues):

“ A…review of low-carbohydrate diets published by researchers in Australia concludes, ‘Complications such as heart arrhythmias, cardiac contractile function impairment, sudden death, osteoporosis, kidney damage, increased cancer risk, impairment of physical activity and lipid abnormalities can all be linked to long-term restriction of carbohydrates in the diet.”

Actually, this “magical” diet is all about eating vegetarian, and as close to fully vegan as possible:

“The recommendations coming from the published literature are so simple that I can state them in one sentence: eat a whole food, plant-based diet, while minimizing the consumption of refined foods, added salt and added fats.”

While I would love each of you to read The China Study, I realize that most people will not, so I have offered a few of the NUMEROUS studies linking some amazing findings for the benefit of a whole food, plant-based diet, as well as the negative findings for eating the “typical American diet”:

Evidence For a Whole Food, Plant-based Diet:

“If you remember nothing else about this chapter, remember the forty-nine to zero score; forty-nine coronary events prior to a whole food, plant-based diet, and zero events for those patients who adhered to a whole food, plant-based diet.”

The above was a study done with the same people, these people who had a combination of FORTY-NINE CORONARY EVENTS, switched to a whole food, plant-based diet, and had no subsequent coronary events (for those who held to the diet, a few out of the study strayed away from the diet and had additional coronary events).

What might even be more telling than the words is the below graphic of a coronary artery before and after consuming a plant-based diet:

“Another group of scientists at the Pritikin Center achieved equally spectacular results by prescribing a low-fat, plant-based diet and exercise to a group of diabetic patients. Of forty patients on medication at the start of the program, thirty-four were able to discontinue all medication after only twenty-six days.”

The above is amazing at showing how quickly the positive effects of eating healthy can be felt!

“Americans are being cheated out of information that could save their lives. There is enough evidence now that doctors should be discussing the option of pursuing dietary change as a potential path to cancer prevention and treatment.”

“if this were a study testing a potential drug, these findings would make any pharmaceutical manufacturer jingle the coins in his or her pocket.”

Think about these two above quotes, is there anyone who if they heard about a pill that would offer these scientifically-backed advantages, wouldn’t be paying almost anything to get it? Why should it be any different just because it is cheaper, and only has to do with what you eat!?!

Evidence against the “Typical American Diet”:

“A 2001 Harvard review of the research could hardly be more convincing: ‘…twelve of …fourteen case-control studies and seven of…nine cohort studies [have] observed a positive association for some measure of dairy products and prostate cancer…men with the highest dairy intakes had approximately double the risk of total prostate cancer, and up to a fourfold increase in risk of metastatic or fatal prostate cancer’”

“The ability of cow’s milk protein to initiate Type 1 diabetes is well documented.”

“Genetically susceptible children weaned too early onto cow’s milk-based formula had a risk of Type 1 diabetes that was 13.1 times greater than children who did not have these genes and who were breast-fed for at least three months (thus minimizing their exposure to cow’s milk)…To put this in perspective, smokers have approximately ten times greater risk of getting lung cancer”

“When the results of all these studies are combined (both genetically susceptible and not susceptible), we find that children weaned too early and fed cow’s milk have, on average, a 50-60% higher risk of Type 1 diabetes”

The above are only a small fraction of the links between ingesting animal-based foods and numerous types of disease.

Food Principles

The author lays out 8 principles that shed some light on the findings of the various studies:

“Principle #1 Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

“Principle #2 Vitamin supplements are not a panacea for good health.”

“Principle #3 There are virtually no nutrients in animal-based foods that are not better provided by plants.”

“There are four nutrients which animal-based foods have that plant-based foods, for the most part, do not: cholesterol, and vitamins A, D and B₁₂. Three of these are nonessential nutrients…It is estimated that we hold a three-year store of vitamin B₁₂ in our bodies. If you do not eat any animal products for three years or more…you should consider taking a small B₁₂ supplement on occasion.”

“Principle #4 Genes do not determine disease on their own. Genes function only by being activated, or expressed, and nutrition plays a critical role in determining which genes, good and bad, are expressed.”

“Principle #5 Nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of noxious chemicals.”

“Principle #6 The same nutrition that prevents disease in its early stages (before diagnosis) can also halt or reverse disease in its later stages (after diagnosis).”

“Principle #7 Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.”

“Principle #8 Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence. All parts are interconnected.”

Healthy Food is Good for You and Everybody Else

“Furthermore, it turns out that if we eat the way that promotes the best health for ourselves, we promote the best health for the planet. By eating a whole food, plant-based diet, we use less water, less land, fewer resources and produce less pollution and less suffering for our farm animals.”

“Our food choices have an incredible impact not only on our metabolism, but also on the initiation, promotion and even reversal of disease, on our energy, on our physical activity, on our emotional and mental well-being and on our world environment.”

Confusion and Downright Misinformation

So if all of this is true, why have I not heard of this sooner!?! The issue is the lack of confusion and misinformation – often perpetuated by the animal-food industries, as well as other powerful players in the food and medical industries, as well as the government. What this means is that you need to take it upon yourself to become a more-educated individual and do what is best for you and your children’s health!

I have included some of the appalling quotes from The China Study about different industries, as well as the government’s ineptitude at taking YOUR HEALTH SERIOUSLY!!:

• In reference to the dairy industry “educational” (read ‘marketing’) campaigns in a large portion of elementary and middle schools:

  • “Don’t people wonder what’s going on when almost every single children’s book advertised in the ‘Nutritional Bookshelf’ portion of [the Dairy industries website] revolved around either milk, cheese or ice cream…during July 2003 there were no vegetable books anywhere to be found on this ‘Nutritional Bookshelf’!”

• The lack of understanding of the importance of nutrition is abhorrent, when the Food and Nutrition board (FNB), the government entity entitled to release its recommendations for a healthy diet, in 2002 released their recommended diet, it would allow for the below to be seen as

  • “consistent with ‘minimizing chronic disease’”:

• “only 5-6% dietary protein is required to replace the protein regularly excreted by the body (as amino acids). About 9-10% protein, however, is the amount that has been recommended for the past fifty years to be assured that most people at least get their 5-6% ‘requirement’.”

  • The FNB 2002 report recommended up to 35%!
• What’s just as bad as this protein recommendation above is their recommendation that

  • “added sugars should comprise no more than 25% of total calories consumed.”

  • That is the equivalent of two and a half Krispy Kreme donuts a day, or about 150 M&M’s!! Yes, the powers-that-be in the sugar and other related industries talked the “Nutrition” board into yielding to that much extra sugar in your diet as “healthy”.

“Research on the causes of disease and non-drug interventions simply doesn’t occur in medical education settings. For example, academic researchers may be furiously trying to find a pill that will treat the symptoms of obesity, but not be devoting any time or money to teaching people how to live a healthier life.”

So What is the Exact Diet Shown to Be Effective

It is pretty simple!

“Eat all you want (while getting lots of variety) of any whole, unrefined plant-based food”.

To help you determine exactly what this means, I have included the below chart from The China Study:

This All Sounds Great, but I Could Never Do That:

Starting in July of last year, I began eating vegan. Along with this came a lot of harassment (mostly in jest, but not all). From this experience, I have learned that most people are quite averse to eating vegan. This includes a few reasons:

• Many people are worried that it is not healthy
  • Obviously this has been shown to not be true from above
• People don’t want to move from the status quo
  • For these people, I would recommend that they give it a try, I promise that it is not only easier than you might think, but that you will feel a whole world better
• Others say that they would love to, but just can’t give it up
  • To these people, I would recommend starting small, do some meatless meals and grow into where you begin to completely take animal-foods out of your diet, and start to see the difference it makes in your energy levels, and the way you feel
• Lastly, there are the group that love to say “I am here for a good time, not a long time”
  • These people always make me laugh. I am currently 50 pounds less than I was when I was eating animal-products, and constantly eating fast-food. There was NOTHING about a good time at that point. I was miserable, had issues getting around, was always tired, spending a ton of money just to eat some other junk. Besides that, my clothes weren’t fitting, and I could barely walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Maybe I was missing something, but this was not a state that I wanted to stay in! If this is you, know that there is a different choice: eating vegan changed everything! I have tons of energy, I feel great: I actually want to go exercise. My life is so much better that it is not even funny. If you are feeling like I did before I made the change, just ask yourself if it is worth it! If not, know that you can change.

I recommend that everyone try eating vegan for a month. The first few days might be tough. There is going to be a lot more cooking that you have likely done before, and there are going to be some failed recipes. Overall, though, the transition is nowhere near as difficult as you might think. Try it out and let me know how it goes!

I am cheering for you and know that if you read The China Study, you will see that your life might depend on it. The switch will give you an entirely new life, one that you may have never even imagined!