China Study proves the link between cancer and nutrition

Chinese dragon (Flickr / photo by scazon)

Having proven in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s that cancer in lab rats can be turned on and off by changing the amount of protein in their diets, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Columbia University, wanted to know if these results applied to all protein and if they were applicable to humans.

The protein used in the lab experiments on rats was casein, the main protein in cow’s milk. Tests were repeated using soy protein and wheat protein at 20% of calories and Dr. Campbell and his colleagues were “shocked” that the plant sources of protein did not have the same deadly effect on the rats.

At around the same time, the Chinese government published the results of a nationwide survey conducted from 1973 to 1975 of death rates from 12 different cancers among 880 million Chinese citizens in 24,000 counties. The results were published in a color coded map that showed cancer deaths concentrated in certain areas of the country. This suggested to Dr. Campbell that cancer is a geographically localized disease that may have more to do with lifestyle than genes. He wanted to delve further into these findings and thus was born The China Study, which has become the most comprehensive and important scientific study of nutrition ever conducted.

The China Study followed 650,000 men and women and looked at 367 variables, including 48 different kinds of disease, 109 nutritional, viral and hormonal indicators in blood samples, 36 food constituents such as nutrients, pesticides, pollutants, water and heavy metals, 60 diet and lifestyle factors and 17 geographic and climate factors.

One of the first things that Dr. Campbell looked at was breast cancer. Studies in the early 1980’s were showing that increases in dietary fat intake led to increases in breast cancer rates. However, based on his studies in China, Dr. Campbell realized that it was not really the fat intake but the intake of animal food that was driving the rates of breast cancer.

In his studies, Dr. Campbell did not try to isolate one single nutrient, or food, or lifestyle choice, or try to relate a single cause to a single effect. He warns that his studies should not be read too narrowly. Instead, he believes that his findings require looking at the complete nutrition and lifestyle picture and viewing the overall patterns as an orchestration of the effects of countless nutrients and infinitely complex mechanisms, supported by exercise, sunshine and water.

Dr. Campbell emphasizes that the general conclusion that he draws from his years of research is that less protein correlates with less chronic degenerative disease and as a result, he recommends a plant based diet consisting of whole foods, with less protein of all kinds and no animal protein.

In future articles, we’ll look at the implications of Dr. Campbell’s work for other chronic diseases, the benefits to your health of his plant-based whole foods diet, and why the medical, research and public health community hasn’t adopted his research.