Chinese study by Colin Campbell. Review: "Chinese study"

13.08.2020

House of Squirrels

My entire professional career in biomedical research has been built around protein. It was as if he had me on an invisible leash, no matter where I went, from a basic research laboratory to practical programs to improve the nutrition of malnourished children in the Philippines to the government boardrooms where U.S. national health policy was determined. Protein, often spoken of with reverence, is the thread that usually ties together present and past nutritional knowledge.

The history of the protein has to do with science, culture, and also, to a large extent, mythology. I am reminded of Goethe's words, first quoted to me by my friend Howard Lyman, an eminent author, lecturer, and former cattle farm owner: “We are best at hiding the obvious.” Nothing was hidden as well as secret information about the squirrel. The almost sacred status of protein directly or indirectly leads to the censorship, criticism and control of almost all ideas in biomedical research.

Since this nitrogen-containing chemical was discovered by Dutch chemist Gerhard Mulder in 1839, protein has become the most revered of all nutrients. The word "protein" comes from the Greek proteios, meaning "of paramount importance."

In the 19th century protein was associated with meat, and this connection has continued for more than 100 years. Today, many people still equate proteins with animal foods. If you had to name the first food you think of when you think of protein, you'd probably say beef. And if so, then you are not alone.

The answers to many questions regarding protein are still unclear:

What is a good source of protein?
How much protein should a person consume?
Is plant protein as good as animal protein?
Do I need to include certain plant foods in my diet to fully get the required combination of proteins?
Should you take protein powder or amino acid supplements, especially if you exercise or play sports?
Should you take protein supplements to build muscle?
Some proteins are considered high quality, while others are considered low quality. What does this mean?
Where do vegetarians get their protein?
Can vegetarian children develop normally without animal protein?

Many of these frequently asked questions and concerns stem from the belief that meat is protein and protein is meat. This belief is due to the fact that the main component of animal food is protein. Many meat and dairy products can be reduced in fat, but they are still recognizably meat and dairy products. We are constantly faced with lean meat and milk from which the cream has been skimmed. However, if we remove protein from animal food, what remains will not resemble the original product. For example, a steak stripped of its protein will turn into a puddle of water, fat and a small amount of vitamins and minerals. Who will eat this? In a nutshell, for animal food to be recognizable, it must contain protein. Protein is a key element of animal food.

Scientists of the past, such as the eminent German explorer Karl Voith (1831–1908), were ardent supporters of the protein. Voith found that a person needed only 48.5 grams of protein per day, but recommended a huge dose of 118 grams per day, which was due to the cultural attitudes of the time. Protein and meat were considered synonymous, and everyone strived to include meat in their diet, just as today we strive to have larger homes and faster cars. Voyt was of the opinion that there can never be too much of a good thing.

Voith's students included several prominent nutrition researchers in the early 1900s, including Max Rubner (1854–1932) and Wilbur Atwater (1844–1907). They both strictly followed their teacher's recommendations. Rubner argued that eating protein (meaning meat) is a symbol of civilization as such: “... eating protein in large quantities is the right of a civilized person.” Atwater followed suit, establishing the first nutrition research laboratory at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). While heading this ministry, he recommended consuming 125 grams of protein per day (currently only 55 grams per day is recommended). Later we will see how important this precedent was for this government body.

Cultural attitudes are firmly entrenched in people's minds. If a person considered himself civilized, he consumed a lot of protein. Rich people ate meat, while poor people ate simple plant foods such as potatoes or bread. Some believed that the lower classes were lazy and stupid because they did not eat enough meat, i.e. protein. In the emerging in the 19th century. aristocratic and arrogant views prevailed in nutritional science. The general concept that the more meat the better, the higher the level of civilization and perhaps even spirituality, underlay all ideas regarding protein.

One of the most amusing, but also unfortunate moments in this story is associated with Major Mackay, an outstanding English physician of the early 20th century. Mackay in 1912 was sent to India, which was then a British colony, to find among the Indian tribes men who knew how to fight well. Among other things, he stated that people who ate less protein were “of slight build and had the obsequious, effeminate mannerisms that were to be expected.”

Focus on quality

Almost all the calories we consume come from protein, fat, carbohydrates and alcohol. Fats, carbohydrates and proteins - macro nutrients that account for the majority of the weight of food, excluding water, with the remainder being vitamins and minerals - micro nutrients. Dose micro There are very few nutrients needed to achieve optimal health (measured in milligrams or micrograms).

Protein, the most valued of all nutrients, is a vital element of our body and is divided into hundreds of thousands of types. They function as enzymes, hormones, structural tissues and transport molecules. The performance of all these functions makes our existence possible. Proteins consist of long chains of many thousands of amino acids, of which there are from 15 to 20 types, depending on the counting method. Proteins in our body are constantly depleted and must be replaced with new ones. This is achieved by eating food containing protein. When digested, these proteins provide us with completely new “building blocks” of amino acids to replace those that have already been destroyed. Different food proteins are thought to vary in quality depending on how well they supply our bodies with essential amino acids.

This process of separating and combining amino acids to form proteins is like giving us a string of colorful beads to replace old beads that we have lost. However, the colorful beads are not strung in the same order as in the lost beads. Therefore, we remove them from the thread and then string them back in the sequence we need. But if we, for example, do not have enough blue beads, then the restoration of our previous beads will slow down or stop completely until we get more of the necessary beads. The same situation is observed when new tissue proteins are formed to replace worn-out old ones.

About eight amino acids (“colorful beads”), necessary for the formation of tissue proteins in our body, must come from food. They are called essential because our body itself is not capable of producing them. If, as in the case of the string of beads, the proteins we eat are missing several or even one of these essential amino acids, the formation of new proteins will slow down or stop completely. This is where the idea of protein quality comes into play. The highest quality food proteins are those that, when absorbed, provide the body with necessary types and the amount of amino acids for the effective synthesis of new tissue proteins. This is what quality means in this context: the ability of food proteins to supply the body with the necessary types and quantities of amino acids to form new proteins.

Can you guess what foods we need to eat to best provide the building blocks to replace our proteins? Answer: human meat. Its protein contains just the right amount of essential amino acids. However, although we do not consider the men and women around us to be suitable food, we still get close to the “best” protein from eating animals. Animal proteins are very close to our own because they mostly contain the right amount of amino acids we need. These proteins can be used very effectively, which is why they are called high quality. Among all animal products, the proteins found in milk and eggs best match our proteins in amino acid composition and are thus considered to be of the highest quality. Moreover, despite the fact that “low quality” plant proteins may lack one or more essential amino acids, the group of these proteins as a whole V actually contains all of them.

Quality refers to the efficiency with which food proteins are used in the process of tissue formation. It would be great if maximum efficiency corresponded to better health, but this is not the case. This is why the terms “efficiency” and “quality” are misleading. Looking ahead, there is a large body of research that convincingly proves that “low-quality” plant proteins, which provide slow but steady synthesis of new proteins, are the healthiest. The quieter you go, the further you'll get. The quality of the protein contained in a particular food is determined by observing the growth rate of the animals that eat it. Some foods, namely animal foods, provide very high levels of protein efficiency and value 1 .

The emphasis on the body's growth rate, as if it were an indicator of good health, encourages the consumption of proteins of the “highest quality.” As any marketer will tell you, a product that is said to be of good quality immediately gains the trust of consumers. For over 100 years we have been misled by incorrect terminology and often come to think that higher quality means better health.

The concept of "protein quality" was not widely known to the public, but the impact of this idea was - and remains - quite significant. Those who decide to switch to a plant-based diet, even today, ask the question: “Where will I get proteins?”, as if they are not found in plants. Even if people know that plants contain protein, they are still concerned about its “poor quality.” This led them to believe that they must carefully select a combination of proteins from different plant foods at each meal, so that these proteins could mutually compensate for each other's amino acid deficiencies. However, this is an exaggeration. Today we know that, using its incredibly complex metabolic system, the human body is able to generate all of the vital amino acids from the natural selection of plant proteins found in the foods we eat every day. There is no need to consume large quantities of plant proteins or carefully plan the menu for each meal. Unfortunately, the deeply held concept of protein quality largely obscures this information.

Lack of protein

Early in my career, nutrition science as well as Agriculture were concerned with increasing people's intake of protein, and the best quality possible. My colleagues and I believed that this universal goal must be achieved. From my early childhood on a farm through graduate school, I shared this reverence for protein. From my youth, I remembered that the most expensive component of farm animal feed was protein supplements. Then, while in graduate school, I spent three years (1958–1961) doing doctoral research trying to improve the supply of high-quality protein to people by raising cows and sheep more efficiently so that we could eat even more of their meat. 3.

During graduate school, I was deeply convinced that it was important to promote the consumption of high-quality protein found in animal foods. Although my doctoral research was cited several times in the 10 years after it was written, it was only a small part of the much larger work of other scientists around the world on protein intake. During the 1960s and 1970s. I have heard again and again about the lack of protein in the diets of people in developing countries 4 .

The essence of the concept of protein deficiency was that hunger and malnutrition among children in third world countries were the result of insufficient protein intake, especially high-quality (i.e. animal) protein 1, 4, 5

Published by permission of BenBella Books c/o PERSEUS BOOKS, Inc. and the agency of Alexander Korzhenevsky.

Published in Russian for the first time

All rights reserved. No part of the electronic version of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including posting on the Internet or corporate networks, for private or public use without the written permission of the copyright owner.

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This book is well complemented by:

Longevity rules

Dan Buettner

Healthy until death

AJ Jacobs

Age of happiness

Vladimir Yakovlev

Healthy Habits

Lydia Ionova

Partner's Foreword

Dear readers, if you are holding this book in your hands, then get ready for amazing discoveries!

This book will destroy many stereotypes regarding proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle in general. She will tell you how food can cause many chronic diseases and influence their development, what foods you need to eat to be healthy and which you shouldn’t.

The book “Chinese Research” will become a real discovery for you, as it has become for us, the largest supplier of nuts and dried fruits to Russia, the GUD-FOOD Group of Companies.

Having studied its contents, we were amazed by the results of the study conducted by Dr. Colin Campbell, professor, one of the world's leading experts in the field of food biochemistry. Stereotypes of proper nutrition are so ingrained in our traditions that the contents of the book initially caused surprise and indignation. The author of the book provided the reader with all the necessary data from which one can draw a conclusion: many products, the benefits of which we have been told since childhood, not only do not bring positive results for human health, but also destroy it over time, causing such well-known diseases as coronary artery disease hearts, diabetes, cancer of various organs, etc. It is noteworthy that the author highlights nuts among the important foods in the diet. In his opinion, their reasonable use undoubtedly benefits the body. As a professional in his field, “GOOD-FOOD” has deep knowledge about the benefits and unique properties of this product. For 16 years now, the company has been supplying large stores and food enterprises in Russia with nuts and dried fruits. Impressive experience and the presence of its own laboratory give the company the opportunity to study these products in detail. Undoubtedly, nuts and dried fruits are natural sources of good health and an important component of proper nutrition.

The data presented in the book fully confirms this fact.

By acting as a partner in the book “The China Study,” we want to express our concern for the health problems of modern society. According to statistics, as of 2013, more than a third of the Russian population is obese, about 3 million patients are registered diabetes mellitus, 2.5 million people are registered with malignant tumors, and the share of overall mortality in Russia from cardiovascular diseases is 57%. The statistics are terrifying, but each of us has a chance to overcome these problems and live a long and happy life. This book will help you take a fresh look at many diseases that are directly related to nutrition and which can be avoided with the right approach to your daily diet.

We wish you success on the path to good health and longevity and will be glad if our products help you walk this path deliciously and with pleasure!

Igor Petrovich Baranov,

President of the GUD-FOOD Group of Companies

Preface to the Russian edition

I have been involved in dietetics for more than 15 years, and it seemed to me that there was nothing in this area that could surprise me - after all, I am aware of all the new information, I train the doctors of my clinic on British and American manuals. Together with my colleagues, I was the first from Russia to study at the School of Obesity Treatment in Cambridge. Every year at international scientific congresses I learn about all the new trends and significant research results. Yes, I believed that some new nuances might appear, but for my ideas about “what is good and what is bad” in nutrition to be completely turned upside down - I could not even imagine this! But this is exactly what happened when I, as a scientific editor, participated in the work on Dr. Campbell’s book “The China Study,” which was translated into Russian for the first time.

For me, the author absolutely achieved his goal: “to change the public's view of nutrition information—to remove ambiguities and make health topics simple and understandable, while basing his claims on evidence from peer-reviewed nutritional science published in peer-reviewed journals.” experts from professional publications.”

This is a revolutionary book that will leave no one indifferent: you will either become an ardent follower or an implacable opponent of Colin Campbell. Protein dieters will be sorely disappointed, and I can already see bodybuilders mercilessly criticizing “this American upstart.” It’s hard to even imagine what will happen at the Institute of Nutrition, which issues its verdicts on the benefits of fast food! Most likely, Russian scientific circles will pretend that nothing happened and that they don’t know who this Campbell is! Well, the silencing and manipulation of research results to please product manufacturers is not only a Russian, but also, as Dr. Campbell writes, an American reality. He points out that “industry is not simply involved in monitoring “dangerous” scientific projects. She actively promotes her version, regardless of the potential negative consequences for human health, at the expense of scientific objectivity. Of particular concern is the fact that representatives of academic science are doing this, while hiding their true intentions.”

I especially recommend this book to my fellow doctors. Since for Russia, as for America, “the situation is relevant when doctors who do not have sufficient training in the field of nutrition prescribe milk and sugar-based nutritional shakes to overweight diabetics; a diet high in meat and fat for patients trying to lose weight, and extra milk for patients suffering from osteoporosis. The harm caused to health as a result of medical ignorance about nutrition is staggering.” Perhaps this book will help make each doctor’s “personal cemetery” a little smaller.

If a miracle happens and the people making decisions about the nutrition of our nation do not remain indifferent and criminally careless (or criminally cynical), then our children and grandchildren may have a chance not to lose their health in kindergartens and school canteens!

And every adult, after reading this book, will be able to make an informed choice based on reliable information. I’ve already made mine and for the first time in my life I observed Lent this year, because the food restrictions it set absolutely coincide with Colin Campbell’s recommendations!

And I am very proud to personally know Professor Philip James, who prevented the intention of “bringing the World Health Organization to its knees if it did not abandon its recommendations” to please the industrial lobby. Will this happen in our country? Wait and see!

Lydia Ionova,

nutritionist, founder of “Dr. Ionova’s Clinic”,

Dedicated to Karen Campbell - her incredible love made this book possible

And to Thomas McIlvaine Campbell and Betty Demott Campbell for their amazing gifts.

Preface

If your life is like that of most modern Westerners, you are surrounded by fast food chains. You are bombarded with fast food advertisements. You see other advertisements for weight loss that say you can eat whatever you want and not exercise and still lose the extra pounds. In today's world, it is easier to find a Snickers bar, Big Mac or Coca-Cola than an apple. And your children eat in the school cafeteria, where the idea of vegetables is limited to ketchup on a hamburger.

This is what Yale University food scientists and activists call a toxic food environment. Most of us live in this environment today.

The hard truth is that some people make a lot of money selling junk food. They want you to continue to eat the food they sell, even though it makes you fat, drains your vitality, and reduces your life expectancy and quality of life. They want you to be submissive, suggestible and ignorant. They don't want you to become informed, active and energized, and they are willing to spend billions of dollars every year to achieve their goals.

You can choose to accept this and be at the mercy of the junk food industry, or you can choose to develop a healthier, more life-affirming relationship with your body and the food you eat. If you want to be healthy, fit, have a clear mind and a cheerful spirit, then you need an ally.

Fortunately, you have just such an ally in your hands. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., is widely recognized as a brilliant scientist, passionate researcher, and great humanitarian. Having the pleasure and honor of being his friend, I can affirm this and add something else: he is also a man of great modesty and depth.

Professor Campbell's book, The China Study, is a true ray of light in today's dark kingdom, covering nutrition and health issues so clearly and completely that you will never again become a victim of those who profit from your ignorance, misunderstanding and obedient consumption of the food they sell. products.

In my opinion, one of the many strengths of this book is that Campbell doesn't just tell you his findings. He doesn't lecture down to you, telling you like a child what to eat and what not to eat. Instead, like a trusted friend who has learned, discovered, and accomplished more in life than most of us can even imagine, he gently, clearly, and professionally delivers the information you need to fully understand diet and health issues. It gives you the freedom to make informed choices. Of course, he gives recommendations and advice, and they are excellent. But he always shows how he came to certain conclusions. Information and truth are what matters. Its sole purpose is to help you live your life as informed and healthy as possible.

I've read The China Study twice now and have learned a lot each time. This is a brave and wise book. It is extremely useful, superbly written and has important. Campbell's work contains revolutionary insights and is strikingly clear and concise in its presentation.

If you want to eat eggs and bacon for breakfast and then take cholesterol-lowering medication, that's your choice. However, if you are committed to truly taking care of your health, read the China Study and start doing it! If you take the advice of this extraordinary consultant, your body will thank you every day for the rest of your life.

John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America, Reclaiming Our Health and The Food Revolution1
John Robbins is one of the world's leading experts on the effects of diet on human health. His books Diet for a New America, Reclaiming Our Health, and The Food Revolution became bestsellers. Note ed.

Introduction

Society's need for information about healthy eating has always amazed me, even after I devoted my life to conducting experimental research in this field. Books dedicated to diets become perennial bestsellers. Almost every popular magazine provides recommendations, newspapers regularly publish articles on this topic, and healthy eating is constantly discussed on television and radio.

With so much information out there, are you sure you know how to improve your health?

Should you buy food labeled "organic" to avoid exposing your body to pesticides? Are environmental changes the main cause of cancer? Or is your health “predetermined” by the genes you received at birth? Do carbs really make you fat? Should you be concerned about total fat intake, or just saturated fat or trans fat? What vitamins should you take, and is it worth it at all? Do you buy foods fortified with fiber? Should you eat fish, and if so, how often? Do soy products help prevent heart disease?

It seems to me that you are not entirely sure of the answers to these questions. And you are not alone. Despite the large amount of information and different opinions, very few people really know what to do to improve their health.

And the reason is not that appropriate research has not been carried out. They were carried out. We know a lot about the connection between diet and health. However, real science is buried under a mass of unnecessary and even harmful information: pseudoscientific studies paid for by food companies, fad diets and propaganda carried out by the food industry.

I want to change this. I want to give you a new framework for understanding nutrition and health that will help you clear doubts, prevent and treat disease, and allow you to live more fully.

I have been in the system for almost 50 years, held very senior positions, designed and led large research projects, decided which ones would be funded, and used a variety of research materials to produce national review board reports.

Many common beliefs about food, health and disease are incorrect:

Synthetic chemicals in the environment and food, no matter how harmful they may be, are not main reason cancer.

The genes you inherit from your parents are not the main factor that determines whether you will fall victim to one of the top ten causes of death.

The hope that genetic research will eventually lead to cures for various diseases ignores more effective solutions that exist today.

Carefully monitoring your intake of any nutrients such as carbohydrates, fats, cholesterol or omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids will not lead to improved long-term health.

Vitamins and nutritional supplements will not provide you with long-term protection against disease.

Medicines and surgery do not cure the diseases that kill most people.

Your doctor most likely doesn't know what? you need to do to achieve the best health possible for you.

I suggest you nothing more and nothing less than reconsidering your ideas about proper nutrition. Provocative results from my 40 years of life science research, including findings from a 27-year laboratory program (funded by the most respected foundations), show that eating right can save your life.

I will not ask you to believe conclusions based on my own observations, as some popular authors do. There are 750 references in this book 2
The bibliography is posted on the website www.mann-ivanov-ferber.ru/books/healthy_eating/the-china-study. Note ed.

And the vast majority of them are primary sources of information, including hundreds of scientific publications by other researchers that point to ways to reduce the risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, kidney stones and vision loss.

Dietary changes can help diabetic patients stop taking medications;

Dietary changes are sufficient to treat cardiovascular disease;

The occurrence of breast cancer is associated with the level of female hormones in the blood, which is determined by the food consumed;

Eating dairy products may increase the risk of prostate cancer;

Antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables improve mental performance in old age;

A healthy diet can prevent the formation of kidney stones;

There is compelling evidence of a link between childhood nutrition and type 1 diabetes, one of the most dangerous childhood diseases.

These findings suggest that proper nutrition is the most powerful weapon we have against disease. And understanding this scientific evidence is not only important for improving health - it also has important implications for our society as a whole. We obliged Know why misinformation is prevalent in our society and why we are deeply misguided when it comes to understanding nutrition and disease, how we improve health, and how we treat disease.

More than 40 years ago, at the beginning of my career, I would never have imagined that food and health problems were so closely related. Over the years, I never paid any attention to which foods were healthier. I just ate what everyone else ate: what I thought was good nutrition. We all eat what is tasty, or what is convenient, or what our parents taught us to eat. Most of us live in a certain cultural environment, which determines our culinary habits and preferences.

All this applied to me too. I grew up on a dairy farm where milk was the staple that defined our existence. At school we were taught that cow's milk helps strengthen bones and teeth. This is the most perfect product created by nature. On our farm, most of the food was grown in the garden or grazed in the pasture.

I was the first in my family to go to college. I first studied veterinary medicine at Pennsylvania State University and then spent a year in veterinary school at Georgia State University before Cornell University lured me away with a fellowship to do my graduate research in Animal Nutrition. I transferred there partly because they were going to pay me to study, not the other way around. There I received my master's degree. I was the last graduate of Professor Clive McKay of Cornell University, famous for his ability to increase the lifespan of rats by feeding them much less food than they would like. My research, for which I received a PhD from the same university, focused on finding ways to speed up the growth of cows and sheep. I was trying to improve our production of animal protein, a key element of what I was told was “healthy eating.”

I was going to improve people's health by encouraging them to eat more meat, milk and eggs. This was an obvious consequence of my own life on the farm. Throughout the development of my views, I have been confronted with the same theme: we seem to be eating healthy foods, especially those rich in high-quality animal protein.

I spent much of the early years of my career working with two of the most toxic chemicals ever discovered: dioxin and aflatoxin. First, at MIT, I worked on the problem of chicken feed. Millions of chickens a year were dying from an unknown toxic chemical in their feed, and my job was to identify and determine the structure of this chemical. Two and a half years later, I helped discover dioxin, probably the most toxic substance ever known. chemical substances. It attracted enormous interest, especially as it became part of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, or so-called Agent Orange, which was later used to kill leaves in Vietnamese forests during the war.

After leaving MIT and taking a position at Virginia Tech, I began coordinating technical assistance for a national project in the Philippines to work with malnourished children. Part of the problem was research into the significant prevalence of liver cancer, a common adult disease, among Filipino children. The disease was thought to be caused by high levels of aflatoxin, which is found in molds found on peanuts and grain crops. Aflatoxin is one of the most potent carcinogens known.

For 10 years, we have strived to improve child nutrition in poor communities. The project was funded by the US Agency for International Development. We ended up establishing about 110 self-help nutrition education centers across the country.

The goal of these efforts in the Philippines is simple: to ensure that children consume as much protein as possible. It was widely believed that the poor nutrition of the world's children was largely due to a lack of protein, especially from animal sources. Numerous universities and governments have tried to reduce what they believe to be protein deficiencies in developing countries.

Which book would you believe more - the one that tells everything beautifully and well and promises “amazing results in a short time,” or the one in which all the data was based on specific studies and supported by numbers? Now there are a huge number of books about various diets and how to live long and healthy, and in some you can find exactly the opposite advice. I remember well how doctors foamed at the mouth to prove that butter was death, and then after some time new studies appeared that showed that in small quantities it is useful.

Without special education, it is almost impossible to understand all this, and we have to very carefully check all this on ourselves. Unfortunately, these experiments are not always safe. The book “The China Study. The results of the largest study of the relationship between nutrition and health” by Colin Campbell and Thomas Campbell differs from similar literature in that all conclusions were made on the basis of many years of research (20 years) and are supported by a huge amount of statistical data with very detailed explanations.

In it you will find not only important information about the connection of our diet with many diseases (cancer, diabetes, heart and autoimmune diseases), but also learn a lot of interesting things about the lobby in dairy and meat production. Are you sure that cow's milk is healthy and that only it can provide our body with the necessary amount of calcium and vitamin D?

Colin Campbell

Professor Emeritus in the Department of Food Biochemistry at Cornell University. Winner of an award from the US National Institutes of Health. Honorary Lecturer at the Taiwan Society for Nutrition Research. First on the list of the 25 most influential figures in the field of nutrition (1998). Recipient of the American Institute for Cancer Research Award "For significant achievements in scientific activity in the field of research and understanding of the relationship between nutrition and cancer." More than 325 publications.

What is this book about?

The book was published in 2005, but only recently reached us in translated form. Its author, Colin Campbell, the world's leading specialist in biochemistry, talks about his research and the findings about the relationship between nutrition and many diseases.

It touches on all the current painful topics - cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes and heart disease. And the authors associate all this with our nutrition.

We are used to hysteria about genetically modified foods, poisoned water, or the entire periodic table in food products. Yes, they are undoubtedly harmful. Yes, they are best avoided, but in most articles you will not find more detailed information about exactly how they act on the body and what is the trigger for the reaction.

Colin Campbell draws on data from the China Study and related smaller studies to provide examples of statistically significant data. This means that the probability of hitting the bull's eye is between 70 and 99.9%.

This research began thanks to the initiative of Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, who was dying of cancer and sought salvation by involving the best specialists in the study of this problem. As a result, studying mortality statistics in 65 counties in China resulted in a book that changed the lives of many. In addition to studies conducted in China, data were also added to study liver cancer problems among poor residents of the Philippines. And that’s where it all started, and Campbell joined the China Study after that.

So what can serve as a signal to activate the growth of cancer cells? Campbell suggests animal protein, especially lactose, a protein found in cow's milk, is to blame. The author also considers it to be the culprit in the increasing incidence of diabetes mellitus, both type 2 and type 1, among young children.

Based on this book, the ideal diet is exclusively plant foods with the complete exclusion of animal proteins. But the author in no way calls on readers to immediately go over to the side of vegetarians. He doesn't call anyone to anything at all. He simply states proven facts, supported by numbers and his own experience. And his experience is quite rich, since Colin Campbell grew up on a farm, where he always drank about two liters of whole milk a day, and a breakfast without scrambled eggs and bacon was not considered the most nutritious and healthy. Agree that switching from such a lifestyle to an exclusively plant-based diet is quite difficult.

Why are we constantly told about the benefits of milk rich in calcium and vitamin D?! Especially for this purpose, the book has a separate section dedicated to lobbyists. This applies to both dairy and meat products. Everything is described point by point. Fans of various conspiracy theories will especially rejoice.

Why should you read it?

Because this book makes you think. They are not trying to sell you a new fad diet. You are not called with loud words to go over to the side of good. They simply show you a cause-and-effect relationship using the example of a study that was conducted over 20 years. They show you numbers and give you very clear comments on them that a person very far from biology and medicine will understand.

You are simply given the facts, and then the choice is yours - to try, act, or not pay attention to the data presented.

Personally, the book made quite a big impression on me. I don’t really like fashionable diets and books that call for urgent changes to something, because the more they shout at me, the more skeptical I will be about what is written. But this book made me really think about the consequences of what I eat and what I feed my family.

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The China Study is a well-known and popular book based on an amazingly large-scale study of the relationship between food and chronic diseases. As the authors were able to find out, those foods that become part of the diet of us and our children, based on the fact that we consider them healthy, are actually the cause of the most terrible diseases, such as cancer, diabetes, diseases of the cardiovascular system, etc.

The book “The China Study” appeared after mortality statistics were studied in 65 counties in China, the collection of which was initiated by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai, who was dying of cancer. As a result of the study, over eight thousand relationships between nutrition and disease were established.

However, there are many complaints about this book from the professional medical community. In particular, there is an opinion that the author was not impartial and deliberately tried to manipulate the data. Nevertheless, it will be useful to read the book.

About Colin and Thomas Campbell

Colin Campbell Professor Emeritus of the Department of Food Biochemistry at Cornell University, a remarkable scientist, doctor of science, humanist and member of such organizations as the American Society for Nutrition Research, the International Society of Nutrition, and the American Society of Pharmacological and Experimental Therapeutics. In 1998, he was named the world's top nutritionist. He has over three hundred scientific publications to his credit.

Thomas Campbell is the son of Colin Campbell and his co-author on the presented book. He is a physician, an instructor at the University of Rochester Medical School, executive director of the Center for Nutritional Research, which works to improve human health, and a lecturer and author of numerous articles.

The book by Colin and Thomas Campbell sold more than a million copies and became a global bestseller, changing people's views regarding proper nutrition and its relationship with health. You can find interesting information about the China Study.

Summary of the book "The China Study"

The book consists of a preface and four parts, including almost two dozen chapters. The first part is devoted to Chinese research, the second - to the diseases of rich people, the third - and fourth - interesting facts about nutrition, health, science and even government - within the scope of this book, of course. Below we invite you to familiarize yourself with only part of the unique information that you will find in the work “The Chinese Study”, namely: we will briefly talk about the universal principles of nutrition and the conclusions that the authors made as a result of their research.

Universal principles of nutrition and health

To collect the data presented below, Colin Campbell spent twenty years researching the relationship between health, nutrition and disease. The result of the study was the following universal principles of longevity and:

Any product is a storehouse of all kinds of microelements. But products are not subject to a “usefulness” rating, because... the same products in different cases can be both useful and harmful.
You should not get carried away with vitamin supplements, because they are more harmful than beneficial. It is considered most dangerous to use dietary supplements to compensate for the lack of fiber and vitamins while following a protein diet.
Plant foods contain much more nutrients than animal foods. It contains antioxidants, minerals, and fiber. Animal foods contain a lot of cholesterol, vitamins A, D and B12, which are almost absent in plant foods. If you refuse animal foods, monitor the content of the above vitamins.
There is no need to overestimate the power of heredity: genes themselves do not begin to function. Most often, nutrition is the determining factor in the activation of “bad” or “good” genes.
Nutrition helps block the effects of harmful substances. Conclusions that cancer is caused by man-made chemicals and toxic substances are exaggerated. Cancer develops over many years, and food of animal origin can aggravate this process.
Proper nutrition, in which plant foods predominate, helps block diseases in the early stages and fight them in the later stages. A number of diseases can develop throughout a person’s life, for example, breast cancer. Proper nutrition affects diseases at all stages.
The principles of nutrition are universal for most chronic illnesses. In other words, the recipe for preventive nutrition for all diseases is the same. You should keep your intake of animal protein, including fish, eggs and dairy products, under strict control.
Proper nutrition has a positive effect on various areas of a person’s life: mental and emotional state, as well as physical activity. However, it will never be possible to compensate for poor nutrition, for example, by going to the gym.

A few words in conclusion

People are mistaken when they think that animal protein is one of the most useful elements in the modern human diet. While there was scientific debate about carbohydrates and fats, regarding protein, the overwhelming majority of experts came to a consensus: protein is building material for human cells, which is necessary for the body to develop harmoniously. But the conclusions of the author and his associates cast doubt on whether animal protein is good.

Protein and food of animal origin cannot be equated. In addition to dairy products, eggs, fish and animal meats, protein can be found in a variety of vegetables, grains, legumes and soy.

Nutrition directly affects the development of chronic diseases - cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, obesity and many others.

Most diseases are caused by genetics, only 2-3%. Other factors include mainly nutrition, as well as lifestyle and environmental conditions in which a person lives. Colin Campbell studied cancer and was able to prove that a vegetarian diet, in addition to preventing the development of all kinds of diseases, also prevents their development even if they have already been initiated.

Vegetable protein is also great for gaining muscle mass, despite the fact that many are convinced that only animal protein contributes to this. There are a huge number of professional vegetarian athletes who managed to win Olympic medals. In addition, complex carbohydrates, which come into the body from grains, fruits and vegetables, are not capable of causing excess weight.

The daily protein intake should not exceed 10% of the daily diet - this is approximately 50-60 grams of protein per day. It is precisely the abuse of protein, especially animal protein, that is the cause of a large number of diseases.

It is very simple to put into practice the conclusions from the book “The China Study” by Colin and Thomas Campbell - you just need to start using the universal principles that scientists formulated in life. These principles can not only help you achieve the figure you have always dreamed of, but also prevent many diseases that exist in developed countries, from cancer to obesity.

Total

After reading the findings presented in the book, any reader will ask himself the question: “Why haven’t I heard this before?” The authors of the Study believe that many influential and powerful multimillion-dollar corporations of various directions (food industry, pharmaceutical production, etc.) are trying to maintain a state of affairs according to which vegetarianism is considered the prerogative of the marginalized. Those in power will always promote a diet that contains animal protein. And this will continue as long as there is income from it. If we draw an analogy with the energy industry, we can say that even if oil, gas and coal occupy leading positions, this does not mean that they are somehow better than alternative energy sources, speaking from the point of view of safety and environmental preservation. It’s exactly the same here: there is a mainstream in the topic of nutrition, which is beneficial to large companies, but there is also.

What choice will you make?

Colin Campbell, Thomas Campbell

Chinese study. Results of the largest study on the connection between nutrition and health

Published by permission of BenBella Books c/o PERSEUS BOOKS, Inc. and the agency of Alexander Korzhenevsky.

Published in Russian for the first time

Legal support for the publishing house is provided by the Vegas-Lex law firm.

This book is well complemented by:

Longevity rules

Dan Buettner

Healthy until death

AJ Jacobs

Age of happiness

Vladimir Yakovlev

Healthy Habits

Lydia Ionova

Partner's Foreword

Dear readers, if you are holding this book in your hands, then get ready for amazing discoveries!

The book “Chinese Research” will become a real discovery for you, as it has become for us, the largest supplier of nuts and dried fruits to Russia, the GUD-FOOD Group of Companies.

By acting as a partner in the book “The China Study,” we want to express our concern for the health problems of modern society. According to statistics, as of 2013, more than a third of the Russian population is obese, about 3 million patients with diabetes are registered, 2.5 million people are registered with malignant tumors, and the share of overall mortality in Russia from cardiovascular diseases is 57%. The statistics are terrifying, but each of us has a chance to overcome these problems and live a long and happy life. This book will help you take a fresh look at many diseases that are directly related to nutrition and which can be avoided with the right approach to your daily diet.

We wish you success on the path to good health and longevity and will be glad if our products help you walk this path deliciously and with pleasure!

Igor Petrovich Baranov,

President of the GUD-FOOD Group of Companies

Preface to the Russian edition

Lydia Ionova,

nutritionist, founder of “Dr. Ionova’s Clinic”,

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Partner's Foreword

Preface to the Russian edition

Preface

Introduction

What is this book about?

Why should you read it?

About Colin and Thomas Campbell

Summary of the book "The China Study"

Universal principles of nutrition and health

A few words in conclusion

Total

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