'The China Study'?!
Answers: Has anyone read this? Has anyone changed their diet as a result? Has anyone heard anything refuting THE CHINA STUDY? Any thoughts on why this work is so little known? tia!
Hehehe. YES! I love that book, want everyone to read that book, and it absolutely changed my life.
The author is well-respected in the field of research. He headed up a lot of the studies that meat-eaters use to try and disprove vegetarianism as being helathy. The only problem is, more research has been done that makes the old research obsolete! How people can trust early research and then ignore further research by the same people is beyond me.
There are two groups that I know of that refute Dr. Campbell's work. One is Chris Masterjohn, who I believe is some kid in his 20's with no background in nutrition or research and I think the other is the Weston Price Foundation.
The China Study (book) is a thorn in the meat and dairy industries' side because Dr. Campbell is so well-regarded as an honest and accomplished researcher and his testing methods are pretty cut and dry. The results of his research are downright scandalous and this book IS reaching a more mainstream audience. I know quite a few non-veg people who have heard of it/read it and they were blown away.
EVERYONE should read the book. It not only goes into the China Study, which is the biggest study on nutrition every done that just so happens to provide a whole lot of evidence that the more animal products you eat the more your chance of getting "western diseases" goes up, but it also goes into a lot more information about how research works and how animal products really may be the root of our most "popular" diseases, no matter how much people may want to believe otherwise.
I have a friend who was, until very recently, on the board of directors for a famous cancer research hospitals/universities in the U.S. He loves the book, too, and is a strict vegetarian because of the research done at his university and the research detailed in The China Study.
But, some people don't want to believe the evidence in front of them no matter what. Ignorance is bliss if it means they can still eat burgers with extra cheese.
No ......... No & ummmm ........... No ............
I have it, but I really haven't read most of it yet.
The basic premise:
The more dairy and meat consumed... the higher your risks for heart disease, obesity, and cancer.
I didn't change my diet too much by reading it (I had already become a vegetarian a few months before), but I did start eating healthier because of it.
I haven't heard of anyone refuting it, but I'm sure there are plenty of skeptics. I believe that most health organizations already know that vegetarians have lower incidence of heart problems, etc. It's just not something most people are willing to do just yet. Although it is possible to be just as healthy on an omnivorous diet.
As far as it not being very well known... Well, with the vegetarian population being less than 5%, there aren't a whole lot of people that want to read it.
I have not read the study directly, but I have heard many of the findings from the study disseminated. JR has it basically right, except that the study was far broader and more scientifically stringent than that sounds. This was a study that was conducted over a long period of time, with a large swath of the population, and has been widely praised for its scientific rigor.
It is a published scientific study and has not been legitimately refuted.
I was already vegan when I first learned of it, so it didn't change my habits any.
As for why it is so little known, I would say that it is very widely known in nutritionist and vegetarian circles. Apart from that, it's the usual combination of the meat and dairy industries preventing the facts from coming to light, and guilty people who don't really want to hear them anyway.
LOL..sorry 8 legs China didn't DO the study.
The China Study was done over a 20 year period, using over 6,500 adult s,in 2,500 counties all over China. This was conducted by Dr. T.Colin Campbell.
If you have found this interesting look at John Robins book "Live to Be 100". He has the stats on this study plus a few more that have really been an eye opener to typical eaters of SAD.
I think it helped me solidify that if I truly wanted to be healthy I needed a clearer focus on my diet. The belief that Food is Medicine. Nothing will help your health MORE than the way you eat.
Slainté(to your health)
Read - Nope, not now, not ever
Change - Again, not now, not ever. the only person i will listen to with regrds to my diet is my physcian. And he has not said a word and we play tennis twice a week.
Refute - Seeing as you yourself claim this work is little known and by default, has very little impact, maybe nobody is bothering to take the time and effort to refute something that is negligible at best.
I've read through some of it and liked what I read. My husband read through the whole thing and enjoyed every minute of it. It is very thorough and gives so much in-depth information. I spoke with a customer at my work once who had adopted an animal-free diet after reading this book.
Any idea on why this work is so little known? Probably because the idea of living a meat and dairy-free lifestyle is not popular. Instead, you hear about the Atkins, South Beach Diet, Blood Type, and other fad diets that are meant to give you short-term results and can compromise your health because people are looking for some miracle weight loss/healing plan that is "simple".
If this is according to what 'JR' says, it sounds like BS. Dairy is not unhealthy, but meat is. I wouldn't trust much coming from China anyway. They eat cats and dogs.
in china they eat cats and dogs....why would you want to listen to them about changing diet?