The China Study by T. Colin Campbell

[Dandelion]

O. M. G. people. There is not a thread on this already?! WTH?!

I finally got around to reading this book because it's the one i keep hearing converting vegan families. I never was much of a health vegan advocate but this Campbell makes a compelling case siting tons of studies. Calling this book "The China Study" is sorta misleading because that study makes up only a fraction of his argument. Basically he's the Howard Lyman of nutrition. Raised on a dairy farm he went on to get a PH.D in Animal nutrition to research ways to produce animal protien more efficiently. He eventually comes to the realization that it is this very protein that is the cause of alot of our ills (cancers, autoimmune diseases) and that a vegan whole food diet is the optimum diet for humans! He references all sorts of studies and picks them apart thouroughly to make his case. He talks about all the resistance, trials and tribulations he's come across during his research and how the food industries sway our diet to such a very unethical degree (but we all knew that right ).

I was hoping for some concrete notion of what diet is ideal but all he says is 'whole food vegan diet' and i'm still trying to figure out exactly what a whole food is. It's like i'm turning vegan all over again. That'll deserve it's own thread. So unprocessed foods with no supplementation because he claims supplements might not only do nothing but harm health in the long run. His reasoning is that the makeup of our whole foods are so complex we could just begin to understand how all the components work together in our body. That our body evolved eating such foods so why try to second guess nature and eat pills instead of plants. B12 is mentioned as something to take but sunshine for D, plants for everything else. Not sure how grass fed organic scooby doo animal protein fits into the equation (ala pollan) but i think he isolates casien and a certain flash amino acid as some of the suspect evil doers. I don't have a copy here in front of me (gave it away) but that's the jist from what i remember.

After reading this i was rabid to make every perosn i know read it. I made sure both of my sisters had a copy and i'm trying to locate an audiobook for my parents. I'm seriously concerned for the health of my omni friends and family now. Before reading this it was all 'yeah vegan is healthier blah blah' but now i'm totally convinced... i think.

Who else read it? What didja think?

[quagga]

Dandy, I haven't read it yet, but thank you for the push!

I have heard Campbell criticized for having a vegan agenda, making his work subject to criticism as vegan propaganda (a la some critiques of John Robbins' book Diet for a New America). What's your take on that?

I just finished reading Barnard's Reversing Diabetes book and am in the middle of seriously putting an effort to return to a whole foods low fat diet (which will require serious changes from sloppy habits on my part). As a matter of fact, one of my tasks this weekend is to bake a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread.

For what it's worth, Barnard puts forth research that milk proteins for babies can trigger inflammatory, auto-immune responses that cause the body to attack its own pancreatic cells, destroying the insulin-producnig cells (I believe these cells are the islets of langerhans (digging deep into primordial memory there)). Interestingly, he surmises that dairy-consuming breastfeeding mothers can pass milk proteins (like casein) through their breast milk.

[herbi]

Originally Posted by quagga

I have heard Campbell criticized for having a vegan agenda

Depends what you mean I guess. He definitely does now advocate a vegan diet as the healthiest human diet, but he is NOT pro-animal rights. He devotes a whole page of the China Study to why he still believes in animal experimentation for research purposes, and how just because he thinks it's unhealthy to eat animals, he doesn't want to be misconstrued as AR. I believe that actually gives his arguments even more weight with most omnis, though of course it's unfortunate.

ETA - official site: http://www.thechinastudy.com/about.html

[Dandelion]

Not sure how it's vegan propaganda when it's all health/science based. He sites many many studies to come to the vegan conclusion but i guess that same studies could be interpreted to conclude the opposite. Ah isn't science grand? I've read a few dissenting pieces online*:

www.beyondveg.com/billings-t/comp-anat/comp-anat-8e.shtml

www.cholesterol-and-health.com/China-Study.html

and his response to the latter WAPer:
www.vegsource.com/articles2/campbell_china_response.htm

While John Robbins comes from the dairy camp too he's just some Joe who reformed into a hippie advocating veganism on multiple channels (ala earthsave). Campbell comes from the science angle on health alone. His PH.D. and 40 years of research exactly in this field of animal proteins lends him some credibility unlike Robbins who often plays fast and loose with his sources. (you shouldn't have pressed my Robbins button )

*dehyperlinked to avoid trackbacks from fanatical WAPers

Originally Posted by quagga

I have heard Campbell criticized for having a vegan agenda, making his work subject to criticism as vegan propaganda (a la some critiques of John Robbins' book Diet for a New America). What's your take on that?

[Missouri Red Snake]

this book puts the health benefits of a vegan diet out there for any reader to see. campbell makes it clear that even small amounts of animal protein on an infrequent basis may have potential negative effects on health. i became vegan firstly for animal welfare considerations, naively thinking that my health might be somehow compromised. i was dead wrong this book gives great credibility to the "vegan diet for health" argument and has even convinced my ovo-lacto scientist girlfriend that vegan is the way to go! campbell's credentials can't be argued, and i recommend this book to anyone who is skeptical of the "hippie" john robbins (although i'm fully on robbins's side too). great read, share w/ those you love...

[VegeTexan]

dandy said "It's like i'm turning vegan all over again." Wow.

We had T. Colin as a speaker at our veg society a few years ago. He made perfect sense with a really convincing powerpoint presentation with graphs and everything. He said he was convinced that animal protein in and of itself was carcinogenic. We had a hundred people at that dinner and a lot of them went vegan that night.

I agree with what herbi said, the fact that he believes in animal research and has done animal research himself, gives his health-based arguments more weight.

[Dandelion]

Originally Posted by VegeTexan

He said he was convinced that animal protein in and of itself was carcinogenic.

Which is exactly opposite what everybody thinks. What's the first question people ask? "Where do you get your protein?"

[grog]

T.

[VegeTexan]

Originally Posted by grog

T.

thanks, grog....I edited my post to add that 'T.'


A lot of people I know pronounce his middle name as Colon. yuk yuk

[VegeTexan]

Originally Posted by Dandelion

Which is exactly opposite what everybody thinks. What's the first question people ask? "Where do you get your protein?"

Let me add another two cents worth, I think the best sources of soy protein are soymilk, tofu, tempeh, endamame, roasted soynuts without salt. These are less processed than the soy meat analogs. (but I love soy jerky)

[Flower]

I just borrowed this book from the library a few weeks ago. I read some parts of it and skimmed through the rest. Lots of really good information in there, but not a lot that I haven't read already (I've read a lot of books on vegan nutrition. It is a very good book and I may check it out again once I get through the Francione books I have on my shelf.

[VegeTexan]

We vegans are informed, that's for sure, but we still like our Tings, dark chocolate and jerky.

[walrus]

i've been meaning to read this book, so thanks for the nudge, dandy.

[Flower]

Originally Posted by VegeTexan

We vegans are informed, that's for sure, but we still like our Tings, dark chocolate and jerky.

Don't forget cupcakes. It's almost become a cult like following!

[VegeTexan]

Originally Posted by Flower

Don't forget cupcakes. It's almost become a cult like following!

You cupcake eating vegans :shakes head emoticon:

I use mini cupcake pans to make high protein tvp/quinoa sausage tidbits.