The China Study - Roger Mason

Colin Campbell wrote a very unique and enlightening book called The China Study. Campbell used to promote the consumption of meat, poultry, and eggs as the cornerstone of health. More and more he saw this was 180 degrees opposite of reality. He compared the diet, lifestyle and health statistics of rural Chinese people with Americans. He came up with some stunning and very important insights. American men have a 50% chance of getting cancer, and women a 40% chance. Heart disease will kill 1 in 3 Americans. One in every seven dollars we spend goes for health care. We are the sickliest nation on earth. Read the article Most Medicated Nation at www.youngagain.org. We spend well over $4,000 a year apiece on heath care!!!! We eat 16% protein when we only need 8%. Nearly all of this is animal protein. The Chinese eat ONE TENTH the animal protein we do. The more animal protein you eat, the sicker you get. Not so with vegetable protein. We get all the protein we need from whole grains and beans. We eat about 40% fat calories- five times the fat we need, and it is almost all saturated animal fat. We eat twice the calories we need. We eat a mere 1% whole grains. We should eat 50% whole grains. The northern Chinese eat wheat as a staple. The southern Chinese eat rice as a staple, but it is mostly white rice.  We eat 120 pounds of various sugars a year we don't need at all. Don't blame "genetics". Genetics only causes less than 3% of diseases.  The rural Chinese eat three times the fiber we do. They eat more calories (they do far more physical work, too) than we do, but have far less obesity, because they eat far more plant foods. American obesity levels are thru the roof! Their average cholesterol level is about 150, but about 240 for us. American men have SEVENTEEN times the CHD. American women have far more breast/uterine/cervical/ovarian cancer rather than the Chinese. They get far more nutrients than we do. Girls reach puberty at an average of 17 (15 to 19), while American girls now reach puberty at 11. Early puberty causes shorter lifespan and higher disease rates. Chinese women have far lower estradiol and estrone levels, but higher estriol (the “safe” estrogen). Chinese men also have lower estradiol and est­­­­­­­­­­­­­rone levels. High estrogens cause all manner of disease.

Chinese, in the rural areas, are simply far, far more healthy than Americans. The urban Chinese, on the other hand, are more and more adopting the Western diet of animal foods, sugar, and refined foods. Their health is failing very much as a result of this change. Affluence clearly destroys health, and America is the most affluent of all nations.

One very important point he makes is that animal protein is harmful in itself. We concentrate on the fat and cholesterol in animal foods, while ignoring the protein content. Low fat dairy products are still full of cancer promoting  casein. Casein is unique to dairy products. The consumption of animal protein per se is connected with cancer, diabetes and other diseases. Animal protein raises uric acid levels and causes kidney disease. This is why we removed ALC and carnosine from the Supplements Over 40 package. We advise people on a vegan, vegetarian, or macrobiotic diet to avoid these two amino acids, (and all animal proteins) despite the studies that claim health benefits for them. They are both animal proteins.

He lists eight important principles:

1) Nutrition represents the combined activities of countless food substances. The whole is greater

than the sum of its parts.

2) Vitamin supplements are not a panacea for good health, and should not replace healthy food to supply the nutrients you need.

3) There are virtually no nutrients in animal based food that are not better provided by plants.

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 or bad, are expressed.

5) Nutrition can substantially control the adverse effects of noxious chemicals.

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).

7) Nutrition that is truly beneficial for one chronic disease will support health across the board.

8) Good nutrition creates health in all areas of our existence. All parts are interconnected.

His main point is the fat, cholesterol, and proteins in meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy foods cause disease. The problem with Campbell is that he does not stress DIET SHOULD BE BASED ON WHOLE GRAINS. Whole grains are the very staff of life. This is a unique book, and a lot of time and effort went into it. This is well worth reading, and will certainly motivate you to eat better. There is much more information in this book than can possibly be expressed in a short review like this. Reading this will literally change the way you eat.

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