In a 2011 American documentary directed by Fulkerson, the
"profound claim that most, if not all, of the degenerative diseases that
afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu
of animal-based and processed foods" is explored. In the film, Fulkerson
himself changes his lifestyle to consume a “Whole Foods Plant Based Diet” while
simultaneously reviewing the works of American physician Caldwell Esselstyn and
professor of nutritional biochemistry T. Colin Campbell,
two of the most prominent advocates for the diet in America.
Both Campbell and Esselstyn grew up on farms, raising
cattle for milk and valuable proteins for human consumption. When both started
their work, they were in agreement with the popular belief of the time that
milk was nature’s most perfect food and that the consumption of animal products
was necessary for receiving the necessary proteins in the American diet. While
visiting the Philippines, however, Campbell came across some surprising
information. The children of the more affluent families were at a greater risk
for liver cancer than the poorer children (whose diets were composed of
non-animal proteins in order to reduce cost). This was particularly surprising
because liver cancer at the time was only typical in adult patients. Campell
then came across an article in an Indian medical journal which detailed an
experiment in which lab rates were exposed to a carcinogen, aflatoxin, and then
given a diet of either 20% (experimental) or 5% (control) of casein, the protein
found prominently in milk. In the article, it was observed that the
experimental group which consumed more casein had a much higher rate of cancerous
tumor growth than the control. Intrigued, but still unconvinced, Campbell came
back to America and replicated the procedure.
Campbell stared his experiment in the same way he saw
detailed in the Indian journal. He gave half of the lab rats he tested a diet
of 20% casein, and he gave the remaining half a diet of 5% casein (after
exposure to a carcinogen). His results concluded that the rats consuming
greater amounts of casein had greatly enhanced liver cancer tumor growth while
the rats consuming less of the animal-based protein showed no incidence of
tumor growth at all.
After
confirming his findings, Campbell took the experiment a step further. With a
new group of lab rats exposed to the same carcinogen he had used previously,
Campbell put all the experimental rats on a diet of 20% casein and after three
weeks switched the rats to the 5% casein diet. He continued this alteration of
the lab rat diet for 12 weeks. His results suggested that the cancerous growths
could be stimulated and halted by the amounts of protein as tumor growth slowed
dramatically in the presence of less animal-based protien and shot up on the
introduction of higher levels of the protein.
Campbell repeated his experiments with soy and other
plant-based proteins, but he found no correlations between those proteins and tumor
growth.
Around the same time that Campbell was doing his
experiments, the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was diagnosed with a terminal
cancer, and in 1976 he authorized one of the largest research endeavors ever conceived.
650,000 were commissioned to catalog the mortality patterns of every county in
China from 1973-1975, nearly 880 million people. Campbell saw this as his opportunity
to apply his findings in the lab to a large scale human population.
The findings of this massive study revealed that there
was a 400 fold difference in the highest and lowest counties for disease
mortality, a statistic especially significant due to the consistency in
genetics throughout the observed populations as all were native Chinese. (In
America, it is an estimated 2-3 fold difference from areas of highest to lowest
mortality rates of specific diseases). In this study, for each type of cancer
there appeared to be “hot spots” distributed throughout the country. Again intrigued,
Campbell organized a new study to further explore the correlations between
disease and diet.
Campbell organized what is now known as the China Study (note:
Campbell released a book of the same name in 2005 The China Study) in which 65 counties, in
rural and semi-rural areas, were surveyed. Blood and urine samples, as well as questionnaires
and observations, were taken from 6,500 people in an experiment with 367
variables. The end result named no less than 94,000 correlations between diet
and disease. There are problems with the
study, however, which were overlooked in the film, including the limited age
range of the study participants (all were between the ages of 35 and 64). This
limit in the pool of study participants, in my opinion, diminishes the
credibility of the study as it is cited that those over 64 were not included
simply because their causes of death were “unreliable.”
But what about the benefits of animal based proteins?
When we think of milk, we often refer to calcium as one of its most beneficial
components, necessary for bone development and strength. So if the calcium in
milk was so essential for bone strength, it would be expected that countries
consuming more milk would have lower rates of osteoporosis,
but in reality countries like the United States which are among the biggest
consumers of milk products have the highest incidence of hip fracture, an early
indicator of osteoporosis.
So what are we to think now? Should we all adopt a whole
foods plant based diet in order to stay healthy and continue the war on cancer?
Is our diet really what’s killing us? The documentary presented many
testimonials of people who adopted this lifestyle of plant-based nutrition and
no longer required their medications for conditions like hypertension, type II
diabetes, or even cancer. One woman profiled had been diagnosed with breast
cancer which metastasized to her lungs while she was in her 50s. The woman is
today in her 70s, eating a plat-based diet, forgoing western medicine for her
cancers, and winning triathlons (seriously). The documentary presents a strong
case, but I for one do not know if I am willing to give up my steak and eggs
just yet.
Thoughts?
